


Stories of a Girl Beyond Death; Or, Fun Ghoul Really Wishes She'd Died Sometimes

by MKZ4345



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album), My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Genderbending, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:20:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29479095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MKZ4345/pseuds/MKZ4345
Summary: *Rape/Non-con is tagged as a trigger warning, it does not actually happen within the story, it is only mentioned*Every zombie movie in existence had explored the idea of how humans cope with existing in a world where the dead walk and attack anything living. Nobody had ever thought about the possibility that someone might evolve, in a way. Fun Ghoul understood why, now. It was fucking boring.
Relationships: Fun Ghoul/Party Poison (Danger Days)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 4





	1. The Phant-O-Matic

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this before the world fell apart, but writing it has really helped with coping with it all somehow?? I really love the story I'm writing here, I thought other people might also. I've always been hesitant about posting genderbend stuff that I write because I'm worried about hurting people's feelings or something. Hopefully this is okay!
> 
> There's no upload schedule for this, I just have finally decided that the mountains of fic fragments I'm sitting in should be read by other people. Because who knows, maybe you guys will motivate me to write more! Anyway, please enjoy!

It was here somewhere, she knew it was. She’d seen it before and she’d be damned if she didn’t find the damn thing this time. That guitar was the last of its kind, just like she was. An antique, a piece of history. She tossed another rock over her shoulder, continuing to dig through the rubble. Soon she’d be able to get into the damn Guitar Center and save that poor guitar from a life left to rot among the rotting. It wasn’t fair, she thought as she dug further into the pile of dirt and building. All she’d ever wanted to do with her life was lay low and survive. Now she had to come up with some kind of plan for the rest of it, something to live for. What a hassle.

There, she thought just as the pile started collapsing, now she’d be able to get in. She slipped through the small hole formed by the mini landslide. Inside the collapsing building, her hope started to fade. What if it got crushed when the building started collapsing? She carefully made her way to the vintage room, home to the city’s best guitars and the only guitar Fun Ghoul had her eyes on. The Wilshire Phant-O-Matic. Just the name made her legs weak. That damn guitar was so gorgeous, and the way it played- okay, she thought, keep it PG. Or at least PG-13. She’d played that guitar once, but only once, and once was enough to convince her to find it again.

Fun Ghoul, a name she stole from the man she’d killed for it, was deep in New York City. No one else was this far into the city, they’d be eaten alive before they could make it that far. Fun was fine, though. She had no problem getting past the drooling monsters.

“There you are!” She shouted, shoving a medium-sized piece of ceiling away as she saw the guitar. “There, there, there! Finally!”

She tore away at the rubble toward the almost perfectly preserved display box that held her love. Okay, maybe she was getting a bit dramatic. But it was okay to be dramatic, nobody was going to stop her. Not with the world in shambles like it was. They had better things to worry about, like turning into an undead monstrosity and trying to eat your friends. Who gave a shit whether Fun treated this guitar like a god? The only thing that mattered to her, this was it.

She did away with her common sense, punching through the glass to get to the guitar faster. As she pulled it out, she imagined dramatic music playing, lifting the guitar slowly like it was a gift from god. 

A rogue zombie crawled its way out from under a piece of rubble and grabbed her ankle, growling and gurgling as it tried to reach her with its teeth.

“You’re totally ruining my moment, dude,” she grumbled, glaring down at it. The zombie let her ankle go and backed off, nodding like it was apologizing. “No I mean it’s fine, we can fight after, just like. I’m doing a thing right now, you know?”

The zombie nodded harder, laying back down on the ground.

“I promise you can chase me a bit when I’m done.”

Fun held the guitar up again, pretending she hadn’t been interrupted. There was no such thing as shame or embarrassment in a zombie apocalypse, no room for it. She brought it back down to her chest, throwing the strap around her neck and strumming once with her nails. The guitar was horribly out of tune, no doubt because of the lack of care. The zombie next to her groaned and winced.

“Oof, yeah, no shit,” she said, cringing. “Do you know where they kept the tuners?”

The zombie lifted a hand and pointed to a half collapsed isle.

“Thanks.”

She sat and tuned the guitar for a while, the zombie next to her groaning happily when she finally tuned it correctly.

“Okay, let’s try that again,” she said, strumming the strings again. This time it was perfectly in tune, and her and the zombie both made happy noises. “Perfect. Now to find this jewel a hard case.”

The zombie pointed again, this time directing her toward the front of the store.

“Thanks buddy,” she said, smiling and lifting the piece of rubble its legs were stuck on so it could follow her. “I promise you can chase me once I get it in a hard case.”

The zombie seemed to shrug, like he didn’t care anymore.

“You sure?”

It bobbed its head, a broken nod as it clumsily crawled behind her on the ground.

“Alright, if you’re sure.” Fun pulled down one of the intact hard guitar cases from the wall and carefully put the Phant-O-Matic in it. Then, she found a harness to wear the case on her back. Perfect since she only had a messenger bag.

She affixed the harness to the case and pulled it onto her back, shifting and testing how it felt.

The zombie made an approving noise.

“Yeah? Looks good? Nice and secure?” She smiled at it. “Good. Did you used to work here?”

It nodded.

“Well, if you still had a supervisor to report to, I would find them and tell them you were amazing with your service today.” She knelt down and took its hand, shaking it. “I’m Fun Ghoul.”

It gurgled happily and pointed to its chest.

“Nice to meet you, Daniel. Thank you for helping me out today, and I promise to come back here if I ever need anything else.” She stood back up, wiping her hand on her jeans. 

Daniel pointed to the glass counter, tapping it.

“Hm?” She looked at it, seeing it was filled with guitar string packs and picks. “Oh shit, you’re right! Thanks, man.”

After breaking the glass with her elbow and grabbing a few packs of strings and picks, Fun turned back to Daniel and smiled.

“I’ll come back if I ever need any guitar stuff, or just someone to talk to, that sound good?”

Daniel grunted and nodded.

“Are you sure you don’t want to chase me?” She leaned down, smiling coyly. “I can’t pay you for helping me because currency means nothing now, but I’m really fun to chase.”

Daniel thought about it for a moment, then shrugged and nodded.

“That’s the spirit! Okay, gimme a head start.”

* * *

The humidity would be the death of her, Party thought. The fucking humidity would kill her and then she’d suffer with it for eternity when she came back. She adjusted the harness holding her katana on her back and kept following Star. She wanted to complain, she wanted to groan like the undead, but she kept her mouth shut. She knew Star would be pissed if she attracted any shamblers while they were moving supplies.

Star, however, was way to close to screaming at the top of her lungs. Her ankle hurt like a bitch thanks to the crawler that tripper her up in the warehouse. Every step was like a thousand knives stabbed up her leg, the shooting pain somehow worse than the healing gunshot wound in her shoulder. But they needed these fucking supplies, the town needed them. And maybe, Star thought, if they got them there early they would get to keep some too. She hoped. Technically speaking they were doing this for water, two gallons to be exact. That wasn’t a bad deal in her mind, but they were running low on food after this supply run. Party needed to eat more than Star did, she got that. Maybe if they told the townspeople their little secret they would be a bit more forgiving. But no, Party wouldn’t like that. She wanted to keep acting normal for as long as possible. Star sighed, her internal argument coming to a close. They would just ask for a bonus or something.

When they finally saw the flag of the town, Party let out a sigh of relief. Finally safe again. The high walls of the town promised that much.

The guard on top of the wall saw them coming and waved them on, motioning for someone to open the gate below them. As they both walked in the town’s leader came to meet them.

“We’re so glad you made it back safely,” they said, walking up and hugging Party and Star tightly for a moment. “I’m so glad you two girls are safe. And back with exactly what we asked, we are truly blessed.”

“It wasn’t so hard,” Star said, shrugging. “But I was wondering…”

“You will have your water, don’t worry. And I would like to offer you to stay an extra day!” They put their hands on Star’s shoulders. “You’ve done well, and that deserves more than just some water.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Party said. She gave the wagon full of supplies to the guards and started following the town leader and Star toward the inn. She missed the glare Star shot her.

“No, please, I insist, you two must be exhausted from the heat,” they said, taking them into the inn. “We have dehumidifiers here so the heat is more bearable. And with the supplies you’ve given us we can repair our air conditioners and hopefully start living a bit better lives.”

“We’re very grateful to you for letting us stay a bit longer,” Star said, smiling at them. “We appreciate your kindness.”

“And us yours!” They smiled back, their old face wrinkled from years of smiling. “Feel free to stay the night and as long as you need to tomorrow. I know you’re on a mission of your own, but you must take a while to rest sometimes. It’s hard out there.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re always welcome if you pass through again, as well. Any friend who helps us is welcome to stay and find peace, however long it may last.”

Star thanked them again as they left, then followed Party to the room they’d been offered. The town was huge, but most of their resources went to keeping up the houses that already existed for the people who lived there. Somehow they’d built a pretty sizable inn for visitors. Sometimes it doubled as the overflow from their medical building, but it seemed like right now was a healthy time for them. Star was glad they didn’t have to put up with sick people. 

“God I can’t wait until we get to the city,” Party said, flopping onto the bed.

“Please be careful,” Star said sternly.

“Do you think it’ll be hard to make it to the Garden?” Party ignored her, kicking her shoes off. 

“I think it’ll be hard to make it there if you get any further along,” Star grumbled sorely.

Party went quiet, eyebrows drawn.

“What?” Star snapped. “You can’t keep ignoring it. At some point we’re going to have to stop somewhere and let it ride out, you know that. If we head into the city and it takes longer than we want-”

“Then we die,” Party snapped back. “So what? Everyone dies. You think it was my choice?”

“That’s not what I-”

“You think I want to bring a kid into this world? A world that wants to chew you up into little pieces, tear you apart and spit you back out again, undead and doomed to roam the planet forever with nothing and no one? You think I wanted to get fucking pregnant?”

Star shut her mouth, biting her lip.

“Yeah, of course I didn’t. Of fucking course I didn’t want that.” Party sat up, crossing her legs and arms.

“All I’m saying,” Star started quietly, “is that you can’t just pretend like you aren’t pregnant forever. You have to be careful, whether you like it or not. And soon it’ll be too dangerous to take you anywhere if you want to keep that thing alive.”

Party huffed softly.

“If we go into the city and we- god forbid, we get stuck somewhere? Party, it could end up worse than dying. You’d have to have that kid in some dusty building with death all around you, and then what?” Star sat next to her. “I can’t let that happen. You wouldn’t be safe, the baby wouldn’t be safe.”

Party opened her mouth but Star kept talking.

“We’ll still go, I know it’s important to you that we check. I get it. But if it starts taking longer than we thought…” Star put a hand on her shoulder. “I won’t put you in danger. I’m not risking losing you out there.”

Party seemed to deflate, slouching over her lap.

“We’ll stay the extra night, hit up the armory for a restock of ammo and a good sharp blade, and then head north again, okay?” Star shook her shoulder slightly.

“… Fine,” Party sighed, leaning on Star. “I wish things were simpler.”

Star hugged her tightly to her side. “Me too.”

* * *

The city was so much more boring when you didn’t have to worry about the undead. To Fun, they were just people again. Though, admittedly there was more shambling and groaning and trying to bite you, but ultimately they were just people again. She adjusted her guitar case on her back, making it a bit more comfortable to carry. The city’s streets weren’t totally crawling with zombies, thought the population of New York City definitely didn’t leave a ton of room to walk around normally. Surprisingly, a lot of zombies had found their way to the bottom of the ocean around the island of Manhattan. Fun remembers seeing piles of them sticking out of the water, almost islands of their own. Just islands with arms and sharp teeth.

Fun had set her eyes on a tall building, one of the tallest still standing, but not too tall that she feared it would collapse. Tall enough that it would give her a view, but still small enough to have a fire escape, an intact one at that. She’d been lugging her guitar and her small amp for what she assumed was miles. Not like the city got any smaller when the world ended. All she wanted was a venue with a view.

When you survive something traumatic, you can respond to that in a number of ways depending on what kind of trauma it was. Fun had survived something pretty traumatic. But she didn’t respond to it the way she’d thought. She didn’t resent the zombies for doing what she could only assume was their new second nature, their new natural. She knew it wasn’t their fault, it was the old Ghoul who had forced them on her. That’s why she killed him, after all. But no, her response to trauma was usually depression. She knew it wasn’t their fault, she’d had her revenge, and now she had nothing to do. No one to talk to. Nowhere to go. She had to decide for herself what to do and where to go, and that was so tiring for her. Sure, she could go anywhere, do anything, but now she had to do it alone. Alone and only with what she had in terms of inner drive to do anything. Conceivably, she could just lay down in the street and do absolutely nothing. She could find an old house and stay there and die naturally, the last natural death on earth. But something in her told her she couldn’t, and while that something was usually right it was torture to listen to that part of her. It would be so much easier to just lay down and stop, to sleep forever, to drink until her eyes can’t uncross, to throw herself off one of the last standing buildings in the city. So much easier… But she couldn’t. She wouldn’t let herself, and that was annoying.

So, instead, she found her dream guitar and an amp, and now her mission was to play a killer concert for the zombies that were down for it.

The building in question probably used to be an office building, though one of the weird ones with a fire escape. She only needed the fire escape to get to the roof, she wasn’t planning on going inside. Fun had never been the kind to loot. It wasn’t like the stores were completely out of things she might need, anyway. People may have rushed some stores but there were many with cases of goods in the back, so it wasn’t like she needed to loot anyway. 

As she started climbing the fire escape, she motioned with her hand for the zombies around her to follow, and many of them spun around to do so. Zombies were so much smarter than living people gave them credit for. Sure, they were easily distracted, but they still had basic knowledge of most things. They had once been people, after all. They knew, for example, that to follow Fun they had to make a single-file line up the fire escape. Zombie movies would have you believe they’d just rush the thing until it broke because they didn’t understand anything other than hunger. Those movies were wrong, and Fun could prove it with a wave of her hand.

The view from the rooftop was still gorgeous. Fun had seen countless pictures from before the world ended and the skyline had been beautiful, but she felt like it was still beautiful now. It was just different, not inherently worse because of the death and destruction all over. It was a fairly clear day, the clouds were here and there but there wasn’t a chance of rain as far as Fun could see. Perfect day to try out her new amp and hopefully play a good concert for her slowly growing audience of the undead.

She gathered what she could to make a stage, setting up her amp and making sure her guitar was in tune.

“Hey everyone!” she shouted, waving to the groaning crowd. “Do you remember what music is?”

The zombies mostly seemed to nod.

“I’m gonna play you some original stuff, is that cool?” She plugged in her guitar and checked the volume on the amp.

The zombies moaned excitedly.

“Good!” Fun checked that everything sounded good, then played from memory the first song that popped into her head.

* * *

“Do you hear that?”

“What the fuck is that?”

“Is that… Guitar?”

The three moved silently to the window nearest them. From it, they could see what they’d been hearing. Some crazy bitch was playing guitar at full volume… To a crowd of people?

“Are those…”

“No, those are zombies for sure.”

“What the hell is she thinking?”

“She’s going to die.”

The three shook their heads and went back to their business, hoping her racket would draw the undead toward her and away from them.

“What if she brings more to us?”

“We should shoot her.”

“No, don’t waste the ammo. She’ll die up there with that many surrounding her.”

“What a shame. She sounds so good.”

* * *

The town leader almost didn’t let them leave after Star let their secret slip. They kept saying that the world out there was “no place to raise a child” and Star and Party both agreed. But they knew people near the city, had a small sort of contact with them (however unreliable it sometimes was), and knew exactly where they were staying next.

“You promise me that you will come back to us when it’s time, we will help you,” the leader had said, holding Party’s hands so gently it almost made her cry.

“Okay, I promise. We promise,” Party had said to them, nodding determinedly.

She still had a while before it was urgent for them to have a permanent place to stay, it was really just once she got too big to walk normally that they would have to have a semi-permanent home. But until then they had about three weeks of travel to get to the city. They’d started that journey that morning, headed out of the town with ammo and freshly sharpened blades. They were headed generally north-east, from somewhere in Georgia heading to a camp in a place whose name was long forgotten. 

Star pulled out her satellite phone and dialed the number scribbled on its side. Party checked the street ahead of them with her binoculars, satisfied when she saw nothing moving. 

“Dr. Death Defying speaking,” an old voice crackled over the phone. “I’m glad to hear from my favorite little songbirds.”

“Hey, D,” Star said with a small smile. “We just left New Georgia, the people there offered us an extended stay for when the cardinal gets further along.”

“That is incredible news!” Dr. Death exclaimed. “I’m glad to hear that, too! Their walls are strong, she’ll be safe there when the time comes.”

“Yes she will,” Star said with a pointed look at Party, who responded by sticking out her tongue. “ETA is about a week and a half, we have enough supplies to get us there but you better have some stuff waiting for us.”

“I do, you’re adoptive mother wouldn’t let her girls starve out in the unyielding wastelands.”

“Good to hear,” Star laughed. “Don’t get overrun until we get there. We got to restock on ammo, so we can keep you and Pony safe.”

“All this good news is making my face hurt from smiling. I can’t wait to see you two soon. Stay safe and contact me if anything happens.”

“Always, D.”

Star stowed her satellite phone and kept walking beside Party. It was a long-ass walk, but it had to be done. Dr. Death and Show Pony had already scouted the way for them, but they had to stop for lack of supplies. Now, they were waiting for Star and Party to catch up to them. From there, they’d all head to the city together and make their way to Party’s goal. 

It had been her only request when she’d found out she’d gotten pregnant. The scene felt like she’d just found out she only had a year to live and her dying wish was to get to Madison Square Garden and find her missing sister. They had been in southern Florida when she’d made that request, and they had slowly made their way north until they had found a map in Georgia. They had a pretty clear path to New York City, the only issue was the length of time it would take. Dr. Death had estimated it would take them almost a month to get there, and that was only if everything went smoothly. There was bound to be roadblocks along the way. But as always, Dr. Death said “anything for my girls” and started off on the most dangerous mission she’d ever gone on. Though it wasn’t as if the road there was clearly full of explicit dangers that needed careful planning to get around, it was just uncertain. How many zombies were along the way? Were the roads still intact? If they ran into people, would they be friendly or dangerous? That kind of uncertainty was the reason they’d split up; Dr. D and Show Pony would clear a path and Jet Star and Party Poison would follow that path. Now they’d have to travel in a slightly less safe way, but they weren’t totally worried about that. The biggest concern was the time it would take. If it took too long, Party would be too far along to even try going into the city. Star had calculated she was just about to go into her second trimester, which meant that she would start showing even more in the time it would take them to get to the city. Once that happened, it would be more important than ever to keep Party safe as well as keeping prying eyes away from her. In a world filled with pain and suffering, lots of people had opinions about having kids. Star had heard of people who would shoot pregnant women on sight because they didn’t want the human race to have to keep going and suffer more. Star wanted to string those people up on an overpass and let the zombies teach them what real suffering feels like. They would need to get back to New Georgia, the large town in the state of Georgia with the very nice people, before that happened.

* * *

After the first time, Fun kept coming back to that one building to play for her loyal crowd of zombies. At first she only played the things she had written, but then started spicing it up with covers of old classics. She found that zombies really enjoy music, just like their living counterparts. 

The weeks dragged on. Fun had nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to talk to (unless you count the occasional zombie that can’t physically converse) and it wasn’t any different from any other week. Every day she woke up, showered in strangely still-running water (though now colder than the heart of a murderer), ate from her collection of sour gummy candy and canned fruit, venture out into the city, do whatever caught her eye that day, then play a concert on the rooftop, and finally eat from her collection of canned soups and bagged chips. All her weeks dragged on. Though, they were easier to deal with now that she had the Phant-O-Matic. Her baby. 

So, the weeks continued to drag on, until one day she heard people. She’d been walking through the city, as she does, and heard a commotion coming from Madison Square Garden. The Garden had been overrun with the undead for longer than Fun could remember. She couldn’t come up with any reason why there would be anyone alive in there, let alone in the city at all with how many zombies there were. 

Gunshots echoed through the quiet city’s streets and zombies turned to see what the deal was. Fun also did, but walked toward the Garden and held her hand up to tell the zombies to stay back. The closer she got, the more whoever was inside seemed to shoot. It was a pretty dumb idea to go toward gun fire, Fun thought, but if it meant meeting alive people for the first time in too long she was going to take that chance. 

People were shouting inside, Fun could hear two voices. She crept through the halls of the arena, covering her ears from the loud gunshots. She hadn’t realized how used to silence she’d gotten (obviously with the exception of music and zombie moaning). When she checked the interior of the arena she didn’t actually see anyone. There was a horde of zombies hanging around on the floor of the arena, shuffling aimlessly like usual, but no humans. And Fun still heard gunshots coming from somewhere. It must’ve been from one of the back rooms, she figured. 

She tried to follow the direction it seemed like the gunshots were coming from, eventually being able to just follow the carnage left behind by these people. They must’ve been forced back into the arena by the horde of zombies in the halls. Every dead zombie was fresh and their blood was still dripping down the walls around them. Fun was getting closer to the people, their voices louder and still panicked. Then, a door slammed and silence followed.

Fun crept low to the ground, seeing that the door they must’ve gone into was one of the many back rooms used for artists playing there to get ready. Shadows moved behind the frosted glass of the window into the room. Inside, Fun listened to see if she could hear what they were saying.

“…fucking madness out there!” A woman shouted. “Did you see how many were in the bowl?!”

“I did, please stop shouting,” another voice said, this one sounding like a man. 

“How in the hell are they supposed to follow us in?” The woman asked, quieter now.

“I don’t know, we’ll have to either clear the place out or wait until they get here and clear it out.”

“We don’t have enough bullets for that, even together.”

“Well, we have to wait here. They’ll be here any day.”

“I just hope she’s okay out there,” the woman said, and Fun could see her shadow leaning on the window. “When we got separated, things were bad. She was with that asshole, the one that had that crazy god complex.”

“I remember,” the man said with a long sigh.

“I hope he died horribly somehow.”

Fun pieced together the situation they were in. They were two people who fought their way into the city, fought their way into the Garden, and were waiting for someone to do the same and meet them there. In their world, getting to the Garden in one piece was life or death, every shot mattered, every moment could bring about their end in an instant. Fun rolled her eyes. Drama queens. She shuffled back down the hall, wanting to leave these stupid people to themselves. 

“Do you hear that?” the woman asked suddenly. “Is it another one?”

“I don’t know,” the man said, shuffling toward the door. “Do you want to check? It wouldn’t make a difference if it were, I’m not wasting the ammo on it.”

“I’ve got my knife, one less walker is one less we have to shoot later.”

Fun couldn’t think of a plan, so instead she stood straight up and faced the door just as the woman threw it open.

“What the fuck?” the woman said, shoulders dropping. She was tall, with blond hair cut short and clearly not washed for months, wearing a red leather jacket with a yellow zebra striped shirt under it and old stained jeans. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’d ask you the same thing,” Fun said, putting her hands in her pockets and acting like it was totally normal for her to be just walking around the Garden. “Who are you guys and what are you doing in my city?”

“Your city?” The woman stepped outside the room, showing her knife at her side.

“Yeah, I like to think of it like that.” Fun looked left and saw a zombie walking toward them.

“Shit,” the woman stepped back into the room.

Fun rolled her eyes. The zombie was clearly a janitor, on his way to clean up his dead friends’ blood from the walls.

“Get in here,” the woman demanded. When Fun didn’t budge, the woman reached out and grabbed her, yanking her into the room as the zombie janitor shambled down the hall. “That was too close, what’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me?” Fun scoffed. “Look, lady, just so you know, I basically own New York City. Or at least the island of Manhattan.”

The woman stared at her with narrowed eyes. The man, shorter than her, was standing near them. He had long black hair and pale white skin, and wore a t-shirt that had “Shitty Teen” painted over it. 

“You live here?” the man asked, crossing his arms.

“No, I just pretend to for the tourists,” Fun said in a flat tone.

“Why do you look so…” the woman trailed off, looking at Fun analytically. She was interrupted by the sound of a new zombie shuffling down the hall, groaning and knocking up against the door. The man and woman both jumped. Fun held back another eyeroll.

“Are you two gonna tell me, the Mayor of New York City, your names?” Fun asked, crossing her arms, mocking the man.

“My name is Lindsey,” the man said.

“I go by Kid,” the woman said.

“Lindsey, and Kid.” Fun nodded once. “Got it. I’m Fun, and that’s also my name.”

“Nice to meet you,” Lindsey said, eyes narrowing. “So, how in the hell did you get this deep into the Garden without any weapons?”

“Damn, at least buy me dinner first,” Fun said, shoving her hands in her pockets and rocking back on her heels. “I’m not a ‘meet someone and tell them my whole life story’ kinda person.”

“Does the answer to that question really require your whole life story?” Kid asked, finally putting her knife away.

“Maybe.” Fun looked them over again. She noticed the many holsters and harnesses on Kid but the lack thereof on Lindsey. “How come you’re making this chick do all the work, L?”

“She’s the specialist,” Lindsey answered. “I don’t know a lot about non-firearm combat. She does.”

“Typical, deadbeat man makes his lady do all the work.”

“I’m no one’s.” Kid’s tone had shifted into something dark and angry. Fun had to laugh.

“Oops! Sorry! Hit a sour note, my bad.” Fun tried to stop herself from giggling.

“Are you high or something?” Lindsey asked. “You’re so fucking weird.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just- you guys are such typical survivalists! I haven’t spoken to another living human in- hell, years!” Fun had laughed loud enough to make them both look worried. They probably worried about zombies hearing them. “And even right now, you two are all worked up about this place full of zombies, you’re a riot!”

Suddenly Kid’s knife was pressed to Fun’s throat, digging in enough to shut her up fast.

“Shut the fuck up,” Kid said, low and serious. “You’re going to draw them to us and make it impossible for my sister to find us and for us to get out. I don’t know what you’ve been smoking, but those things don’t listen to reason, and the longer you’re here making noise, neither do I.”

“Spooky,” Fun said, smiling. “Go ahead, slit my throat and let’s call it a day. You two go back to fighting for your lives 24/7 and miss out on a chance at running water.”

Kid and Lindsey both stared at her, taken off guard.

“Yeah, I said it,” Fun declared. “I know of at least six buildings in the city that have unexplained running water. It’s cold as hell but it’s running. And I know where to find soap, and snacks, and all kinds of stuff you two could use once your sister gets here.”

Kid had lowered her knife by the end of what Fun was saying.

“Can you get us there in one piece?” Lindsey asked, looking hopeful.

“Of course,” Fun scoffed again, then reminded herself that these people were living a different life. “I mean, yes. I promise I can get all of you there safe.”

“You don’t have anyone else out there?” Kid asked after a beat. “You said you hadn’t seen anyone in a long time.”

“Nope. I’m all alone in this big city I call home.” Fun ran a hand through her hair. “It’s not as bad as you think.”

“A city this dense?” Lindsey looked unsure. “Can’t imagine it being very nice.”

“It’s all about perspective.”

* * *

After many long and slightly harrowing weeks, the party of Dr. Death Defying, Show Pony, Jet Star, and Party Poison finally reached the outskirts of the city. Or, more specifically, the city of New Jersey. Or the city formerly known as New Jersey. Or something. 

It was crawling with zombies, unsurprisingly. The only surprising thing was that a lot of them seemed uninterested in chasing them. They would pick off a few and others would ignore them in favor of going after nearby animals. Show Pony blasted through much of the city with their mighty and freshly sharpened machete, leading them through to a safe area they could camp at. It wasn’t surprising that there were no camps within the city, no one wanted to be so close to a walker epicenter. 

As Show Pony and Dr. Death cleared the building they’d found, Star stayed with Party in one of the rooms that still locked.

“Once we get to the bridge, things will get easier,” Star said, patting Party’s shoulder. 

“Is the bridge even still standing?” Party said, her voice coated in despair.

“It is! I’ve seen it!” Star held her face gently in her hands. “It’s still standing and so are we. We’ll get to the bridge, cross it like pros, and make our way to the Garden.”

Party nodded weakly. The trip had taken a toll on her. Wore her down to her bones, which were starting to ache preemptively. Seeing that much desolation while emotions were high was not the best for the psyche. Star had noticed, tried to find the good around them to remind Party that all was not lost. The stars were the most helpful, Star had found. Party loved them because they never changed. No matter what they went through that day, the stars would be in the same place she left them the previous night. But other than the stars and her family, Party was running out of things to be happy about. Was her sister even going to be at the Garden?

“Clear!” Dr. Death shouted down from the top floor. Star opened the door and stepped into the hall to meet her. “And good news! We can see the bridge from the roof, it’s still standing and looking stronger than ever!”

“Good,” Party sighed, standing up from where she’d been sat on a table and joining them in the hall. “What about the building? Any beds or something nice to sleep on?”

“A couple beds, which you two can have,” Dr. Death said, nodding. “Some food stashes, too, which makes me worried about the prospect of other people coming back…”

“We won’t touch the food,” Star said sternly. “Either it belongs to someone else or it’s planted and poisoned. We don’t take those chances right now, okay?”

“Gotcha.” Dr. Death looked proud. “Pony’s scouting the bridge right now from the roof, but I can tell you right now it looks like a breeze.”

“Yeah?” Party raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. Barely a soul shambling on it right now, shouldn’t be hard at all to cross.”

They walked up the stairs to the roof where Show Pony was, watching the bridge with their binoculars. Party took them when they were offered and saw for herself. The bridge was dead, only one or two walkers on it. They were right about how it looked, too. Strong, safe. She tentatively let her fear roll off her shoulders for now, sighing in relief.

“Let’s get you to bed, you need to rest,” Star said, pulling Party along back down the stairs.

The next morning, they were off toward the bridge. It wasn’t a horrifying distance away, just an annoyance trying to keep going the right direction with all the tall buildings. That was something they hadn’t thought of. Even with the trees in the area, nothing blocked your vision like stone and concrete. 

As they approached the bridge, they counted three total walkers on the bridge itself. A few gathered around the mouths of either side, but they made it across with ease. Pony dispatched the walkers that got in their way with their machete and soon they were already on the other side of it.

That was when the real fear set in. They stepped onto the island of Manhattan, an island that now only had one way out: the way you came. Show Pony made sure to mark the bridge on their map before allowing them to move further into the city. Dr. Death and Star agreed that the best plan of action was to follow the coast. They knew where the Garden was, it was marked on every map of New York they found. They just needed to be careful and precise about it.

Following the coast took a few days, most of which they didn’t sleep at all. It was just too dangerous. Party slept more than the others out of necessity. Sleeping while being carried on Star’s back was starting to actually get comfortable by the time they finally found the cross street they had to follow. And once they did, they made quick work of the path. Show Pony went first, using as many quiet weapons as possible to clear a temporary path. Dr. Death went second, throwing distracting objects (cans full of useless pennies or car keys) down alleyways and other streets. Then, Star and Party made up the rear, rushing through as soon as the coast was clear.

As they stepped up to the Garden, Party was momentarily taken aback by how grand it still looked. It suffered a little bit of damage, but nothing too extensive. It still looked mostly the same as she remembered it.

They ran inside, making sure to create a protective triangle around Party. She led them up to the concourse level so they could see into the bowl, which was chock full of walkers. 

They were still creeping around quietly when they heard someone whistling down the hall. As the person turned a corner, she saw a group of four strangers, all crouched by a window that looked into the bowl, all pointing weapons at her.

“Oh,” she said, stunned. “Shit. You guys must be them.”

Party raised a hopeful eyebrow.

“Come on, I’ll take you to them,” the woman said, spinning on her heel and waving them on. When she didn’t hear them following her she looked over her shoulder. “You’re Party Poison, right? Come on, dude, your sister is dying to see you!”

Party was running after the woman before Star could stop her. Could it be a trap? Absolutely. Was Party kind of tired of feeling hopeless about the world and her life? Duh. She ran after and caught up to the strange woman, walking carefully behind her and watching her movements.

“She hasn’t stopped talking about you since she got here,” the woman said, smiling over her shoulder at Party. The rest of her party was catching up, Star in particular eyeing the strange woman sharply. “Her and Lindsey.”

“Lindsey?” Party said, blinking. “He’s here, too?”

“Yeah!” The woman looked happy that she did, in fact, have the right group of people. “Oh, sorry, where are my manners? My name is Fun.”

“Nice to meet you,” Party said halfheartedly, deep in thought. How had Lindsey ended up with her sister? And why, for that matter?

“I’ll get all you guys’ names later, I’m sure,” Fun said, leading them to a door to one of the green rooms. “But for now, get on with the reunioning.”

Fun threw the door open, startling the two people inside the room. But once it was open, the distance between Party and Kid closed almost instantly. Party was sobbing, Kid was gripping her sister like her life depended on it. They’d been apart for much too long, long enough that Party noticed Kid’s hair had grown much longer. Kid held her sister in a crushing hug, but only until she felt something odd on her sister’s stomach. She gently pushed Party back and looked down with wide, tearful eyes at her sister’s stomach. It was…

“I’m sorry,” Party sobbed, wiping her face in a fruitless attempt to clear the tears from her eyes. “I couldn’t get rid of it, it deserves to live…”

Kid held her sister’s face and kissed her forehead. She wouldn’t say it, but she was so fucking relieved Party was keeping the baby. Not because the father had been a stand-up guy, but because an abortion would be, strangely, way more dangerous to perform than giving birth. Her sister’s safety was more important to her.

Lindsey came over to them and joined their hug, along with Star eventually. The four of them held each other, having been apart for way too long. Eventually, Dr. Death cleared her throat.

“You gonna introduce us properly, or what?” she said with a wide smile. She’d finally gotten to sit the fuck down and rest her leg and prosthetic. “I mean, you don’t have to, I technically know both of them already, but you know. It’s the principle of the thing.”

Party and Star couldn’t help but laugh, Party coughing more than laughing since she was still crying. They all settled into the small room, deciding the best thing was to rest for a while. Kid and Lindsey introduced Fun, explaining that she was going to be their navigator through the city. 

As the room quieted and the emotions ran less, Fun sat back and watched the group operate. The sisters were very close, clearly inseparable unless forced apart. Lindsey looked overjoyed to see Party again. Star looked like she was about to fall asleep. Fun could understand her a bit more than the others. When adrenaline wore off, fatigue hit you like a train. 

This group of people have been through so much. Suffering and living each day like it could be your last. Fun would be lying if she said she wasn’t interested in what it felt like to actually be able to have a purpose for yourself. She was also more ready than ever to try out this “having friends” business. Zombies were great company, yes, but real human beings were something she really needed to socialize with once in a while. The group started going to bed in the middle of the day, fucking exhausted from the emotion of the day. Fun wasn’t feeling the same way, but she could switch her depression on like snapping her fingers so she slept anyway.

* * *

By the next morning, they were setting up a plan to leave the city. Fun wasn’t keen on leaving her stomping grounds, but she was intrigued about the prospect of going and doing something new. Maybe she would find her calling. 

Party and Star told them about New Georgia, about the tall, strong walls and the promise of safety. Kid and Lindsey were more than happy to agree to go there, gladly inviting Fun to come with them to a much safer place, but Fun hesitated. 

“I want to go back and get my stuff, first,” she said, biting her lip. 

“What do you mean?” Kid raised an eyebrow. “You don’t live here? In the Garden?”

“No, I live…” Fun sighed. “I can go grab it really fast, it won’t take long. I just don’t want people to steal my shit.”

“What people?” Lindsey asked, confused.

“I don’t know, anybody stupid enough to comb through the city?” Fun tried to sound lighthearted. “I like my stuff. Plus, you guys need supplies.”

“Do you want us to come with you?” Star asked.

“Yeah,” Kid added, “to watch your back?”

“Nah, I’ve got it.” Fun found their worry cute, despite the situation.

“Do you want us to wait for you?” Dr. Death asked. She was putting her prosthetic leg back on after letting it breathe all night. “Because we will, little raven, we’re not like those ruthless gangs out there.”

“I don’t doubt that you would,” Fun said with a smile. “If you want to wait, I don’t care. If you don’t wait up, meet at the bridge?”

The group agreed together, Kid and Lindsey offering at least one weapon for her to keep safe with before she left. She politely declined, promising them it wouldn’t be needed. They looked unconvinced, and Party even looked scared that she was totally unprotected, but they let her go anyway. They figured that, if she’d lived in the city for as long as she’d said, she would be fine. 

Fun stepped out into the hall, trying not to chuckle at her new friends’ faces as the door shut. Instantly she was back in her own world. Nothing could touch her, no one could do a damn thing to her. She walked out of the Garden quickly, heading straight for her hideout. She passed by many zombies on the way and told every one of them to stay away from the Garden. There was no way in hell she was letting anything happen to Party and her baby bump.

Her hideout was quiet, like the rest of the city. She grabbed her guitar first, then her stash of food in a shoulder bag. After leaving her hideout, she stopped to grab supplies for everyone.

“I don’t know, how much food do seven people need?” Fun asked the limping sales associate as they walked through the half ruined supermarket.

The zombie grunted and shrugged, pointing to their huge crates of canned goods. 

“That’s way too heavy,” Fun sighed. “Oh, you got any shopping carts I can have?”

The zombie nodded, gesturing to the front of the store.

“Sick, I’ll just fill one of those up with a bunch of stuff, if that’s cool.”

The zombie made a noise, shifting.

“What?” Fun blinked at them. “An autograph? Hell yeah, dude! Got a pen?”

After signing the sales associate zombie’s uniform, Fun filled a shopping cart with as much nonperishables as possible and rolled it out into the street to head back to the Garden.

The walk back was quiet, only filled with the sounds of shuffling and the occasional grunt. Fun figured she would miss the noise. On the way, she got asked for another autograph. 

“Jeez, did I get that famous from my concerts?” Fun remarked while signing a zombie’s jeans.

The group around her happily moaned, one of them imitating playing the guitar.

“I promise I’ll come back to play for you guys!” Fun said as she left them. “You could say I’m going on tour!”

The zombies excitedly groaned as she left, waving goodbye.

The Garden was quieter than when she’d left, which was good. It meant that the zombies around were spreading the word to stay away from it. As she pushed the cart toward the entrance, the rest of the group came out the doors.

“Fun!” Party said, carefully quiet but still excited. “I was starting to get worried!”

“Holy fuck,” Kid and Star said together, staring with huge eyes at the shopping cart full of food and a guitar amp (she’d almost forgotten to pick one up for the road).

“How in the hell did you manage this, little raven?” Dr. Death marveled at the haul. “And so many things that’ll keep for so long…”

“Just gotta know the places to look,” Fun said, brushing it off. “Where to?”

They carefully made their way to the bridge again, taking their time to stay out of a few hordes’ ways. Show Pony ended up using their machete to clear a path once they got onto the bridge, making Fun flinch for the first time. How easily these people killed when humanity was blurred…

Once on the other side of the bridge, Party had to take a break. She was really starting to feel the onset of her pregnancy, fatigue being the first to hit her. Fun, being the ingenious rascal she was, shoved the food in the cart around and had Show Pony put their blankets over it, creating a nest-like nook in the cart.

“Get in, I’ll push you,” Fun said, gesturing to the cart. “It’ll go faster, we can take less breaks.”

“Oh, that’s a really good idea,” Party said, stepping over to it.

Fun held the cart steady with a hand and a foot while lending her other hand to stabilize her as she climbed in. Once she was settled, they were off again. Fun looked over her shoulder at her city, her safe place and her favorite place.

This was a time for new beginnings for her, putting an end to the monotony of her life before, opening her heart and mind to the possibilities of new places and new people. She hoped she wasn’t making a mistake. But really, what was out there that could take her down? In a world like this with the abilities she had, was it even fair to entertain a life of survivalism just for kicks? Would she have to tell them the truth? She hoped not, selfishly. Doing that would take away their purpose, she knew that. But still… Party was going to have a kid soon. She’d grabbed lots of heavy painkillers for that exact reason. Maybe it was downright cruel to not tell at least Party the truth, to tell her that she could keep them both safe. Fun would be a monster if she didn’t tell Party, no better than the monsters that these survivalists thought all zombies were. But worse, what if they killed her for it? People were crazy out here, and as reassuring as Dr. Death had been before, nothing was promised in this world. People could change on a dime if they had to. 

Fun’s inner monologue was cut off as Show Pony slashed away at another zombie in their way. They weren’t ruthless, Dr. Death had said. They weren’t ruthless. Fun tried to convince herself of this as Show Pony cleaned off their machete. They weren’t ruthless. 


	2. Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Georgia is a well-fortified, well-populated town of surviving and thriving humans. Fun Ghoul finds this extremely distressing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished editing this chapter so it is being posted now. :3   
> I hope you enjoy! I really loved writing this chapter, it's definitely my favorite part of this whole fic currently. Some of my absolute favorite moments are in here. PLEASE let me know what you think!!

The town - which could’ve been categorized as a small city - of New Georgia was just as grand as Party and Star had promised. It had those tall, strong walls they’d been promised, made of an amalgamation of concrete roadblocks and old busted cars at the bottom and sheets of reinforced metal at the top. From the outside it just looked like sheets of thin metal roofing, but on the inside you could see the wood and iron lattices built to act as reinforcement and as catwalks for guards. This was the true first wonder of the ended world, Fun thought. It was like walking into a kingdom, the feeling of safety visibly lifting the tension from the group’s shoulders as they entered. Fun found it fascinating. 

They walked through the square, a well-kept circle of pebble road, surrounded by rose bushes, toward the large main building at the front of the town. Out from that building came an older person with a wide smile and their arms open wider.

“My girls have come back safe!” They said loudly, going straight to Star and Party to grab their cheeks. “With more people as well, what a wonderful sight to behold!”

“Your girls?” Dr. Death feigned anger. “How dare you! These are my girls!”

“Oh my, are you sure?” They said playfully. “You must be Dr. Death Defying I have heard about.”

“The one and only,” Dr. Death said with a smile, reaching to shake their hand. “What should I call you?”

“Call me Caregiver,” they said, taking Dr. Death’s hand with their soft ones. They looked at Lindsey and smiled fondly. “Ah good, a strong young man. Would you mind helping us with some wall repairs?”

“I’d be glad to,” Lindsey said, giving them a smile in return. He walked off to go meet with one of the wall guards.

Fun watched the exchange between everyone, feeling overwhelmed by something. She couldn’t place what it was until they got to the inn and she sat down alone in a small room. She was overwhelmed by how many people she was around. She hadn’t seen real living people in a really long time. She hadn’t spoken to a living person in so long, it was starting to get to her. She needed alone time, she realized as she sat in silence alone in her room. She needed to walk around and not talk to anyone and feel alone again. She felt herself going a little crazy as she thought about the sheer amount of people in this town.

Party and Star were in a shared room next to Fun’s, going over their plans for the rest of Party’s pregnancy and what they would do after. Their voices sounded far away like they did in dreams, and Fun wanted them to shut up.

She stood from her bed and left the room, walking out and down the stairs of the inn. She stepped outside just as Caregiver saw her from where they stood in the square.

“Fun,” they said with surprise. “Why are you not resting, dear?”

“I uh,” Fun scrambled to find her words. “I don’t like being cooped up?”

“Ah, that is understandable,” Caregiver said with a nod. “Feel free to walk around the town, get all the fresh air you can with the humidity.”

The humidity was something Fun had noticed, and it was making her long sleeved shirt stick to her arms, back, and chest. She shifted on her feet a little. “Do you think I could walk around outside?”

“You are outside, lovely, take a walk,” Caregiver rested their hand on her shoulder. “Surely you don’t mean outside the walls?”

“I uh, I do, I’d like to take a walk outside the walls, please,” Fun said in a rush, shifting her shoulders to get their hand off. She felt something stirring in her that she didn’t like.

“Alright, if you insist, lovely.” Caregiver looked concerned, but waved to the guards to allow her to leave. “You are free to leave, but I insist you come back to us safely.”

“Yep.” Fun walked toward the gate in quick strides as it opened, feeling her constricted chest start to loosen up as she took more steps away from the town.

Eventually she was just surrounded by the trees. She sighed deeply, feeling the tension start to lift from her body.

She walked away from the town, sure that she would be able to find it again due to its tall walls. They weren’t as tall as skyscrapers but it was tall. As she walked she felt whatever it was that was shifting start to take over. She and felt her mind slipping like hands covered in blood over a tile wall, she watched the trees move and blur, hearing her own voice pull itself out of her without her permission.

Whatever was happening to her wasn’t her concern. She was so tired…

* * *

“Went for a walk?” Party tilted her head to the side. “Like outside the walls?”

“She’s weird,” Kid said with a shrug. “I think she felt uncomfortable in an unfamiliar place.”

“It’s dangerous out there…” Party bit her lip, looking out the window at the wall.

“The guards say it’s been relatively quiet,” Star reassured. “She’ll be okay.”

Party sighed and looked back down at her lap. Her stomach was growing bigger every day. At this point she definitely couldn’t leave the town. She hated the feeling of not being able to leave, and the prospect of something horrible happening while they were here was starting to worry her, but Star had told her to try to stay calm for the baby. It might impact her pregnancy if she was stressed out, so she was busying herself with other things. 

One thing she found she liked to do, as the day wore on, was fixing their clothes. She borrowed a sewing kit from the inn and had started patching the group’s clothes. It was therapeutic, stitching little patches of strong fabric to cover holes forming in jeans and shirts. She sat on the bed and worked on one of Kid’s shirts while she was silently anxious for Fun’s return.

Star and Kid were sat around their map, discussing the prospect of trying to become a part of this community permanently.

“I think that Caregiver would let us in a heartbeat,” Star reassured as Kid pondered the question. “But I don’t know what else is in the area. We need to scout it and understand the reality of the location.”

“I agree,” Kid said, nodding. “I’m worried about the weather in winter. I know it’s far off, but we need to think about it now in case we end up outside the walls.”

“I’ll ask Dr. D about it,” Star said.

Kid nodded again and then leaned back from the map, looking over at her sister. Party was sewing away at the shirt in her hands, carefully backstitching a patch in place. Though her hand movements were calm and careful, her eyebrows were knit together and she was deep in thought. Kid sighed, wishing she could take her sister’s mind off of everything going on.

* * *

Her clothes clung to her, shifting uncomfortably across her skin as she shambled away from the town. She was slipping in and out of consciousness, fighting that stupid little monster inside her from turning them around. She pulled at her neckline to try and give it some air, but all she got out of it was hot air in her face. She panted, tired from running earlier and from the hot, humid air that was heavy on her lungs. Not that she wasn’t used to humidity, but the humidity in Georgia in the summer was something else entirely from the humidity of the city. The greenery everywhere only made it worse.

She thought about pulling her shirt off, but she would have to be able to find it later or she would never be able to go back to the town. She couldn’t let them see her scars. She wouldn’t.

As she stumbled further through the trees, slowly gaining back her sense of herself, she ran into something- or someone. Fuck.

She felt it, her little monster. It rose up and yanked her back by the hair, shoving itself forward and into the person, sinking their teeth into their throat to keep them quiet. She felt it bite down as hard as it could, felt fresh blood flow into her mouth, swallowed graciously. She thrashed and screamed at the little monster to try and get herself back, but it was no use. They ate.

* * *

It had been all day and they were starting to get worried. Fun had been gone all day and the guards hadn’t seen her since she left. Caregiver was upset too, pacing the square as the sun went down. Party had tried to be patient, but she couldn’t be any more. Star tried to stop her from leaving, but Kid armed herself with the katana Party had brought with her and promised to keep them safe. 

As they stepped out into the forest, they did so with practiced silence. The forest was quiet, but there was still the far-off moaning of the undead. It did seem thankfully sparse.

Party took the first step forward, leading them through the woods with her trained eyes. She was the tracker of the group, skilled at following tracks and tracking down specific things. It was what made her valuable in this world. What had made her valuable to previous groups they’d been in. Kid was the close quarters combat specialist, well skilled with many types of weapons. She can kill and has killed many men in many ways.

Kid kept her hands at the ready, on the handles of both the katana (a long-range blade) and her combat knife (a close-range blade). Party followed what were clearly human tracks through the trees, following alongside them as she did so. 

The longer they went, though, the less human they looked, and Party started to doubt herself. She stopped twice to retrace her steps to make sure she was still following the same trail, eventually deciding she would just keep going until they found any other sign that Fun was in the area. 

Right in the path, near the edge of a clearing, they found something that made them both freeze. A dead man, ripped apart by a walker. His throat was open, bitten into, his flesh torn to reveal his bones and viscera under it. What startled them was that he wasn’t turned yet. He was dead, but he would soon be undead. This meant there was a walker nearby, near enough to have fed in the last few hours.

As quietly as she could, Kid drove her combat knife into the man’s skull, ensuring he wouldn’t come back. Party scanned the area around them. It was possible the walker had more than left the area, but she knew they usually stuck around a meal until it came back to join them. She carefully stepped toward the clearing when Kid drew the katana just in case.

The clearing was empty. No signs that the man lived there or had stopped there. He was just an unfortunate traveler. Maybe he had been on his way to New Georgia. 

Party contemplated it until she heard rustling nearby. Kid immediately turned and readied herself to swing the katana. There was nothing there, but they both still stepped into the clearing to avoid being caught off guard. From where they stood, they heard nothing and saw nothing in the forest. They both breathed slowly, waiting for something to change.

Suddenly there was the snap of a twig, and then a shambling zombie burst out of the tree line. It hardly made noise, Kid noted, because of its destroyed throat. Just like the other guy.

Party stepped back to allow Kid room to take care of the thing, turning to check the rest of the clearing, and nearly screamed when she saw what she thought was another walker behind them both. Just in time she recognized the face of Fun, hiding in the trees.

“Fun!” Party barely spoke, still keeping quiet. But as she walked over, Fun realized she’d been seen and backed away into the brush, and Party heard the panicked running footsteps disappearing. “Wait-!”

Party ran into the woods without thinking, which was always dangerous. She easily followed Fun’s tracks now, carefully making her way around the trees. The ground started to dip and she found herself at a river. Fun was at the side of it, slumped over and heaving air.

“Fun!” Party said again, stumbling down the incline to get to her side.

“Stop!” Fun shouted, curling in on herself and holding out a bloody hand. “Stop, I could hurt you!”

“What?” Party blinked, suddenly very worried about why Fun was covered in blood. She remembered all the years of being warned about new additions to groups, their potential for causing trouble and suffering. The proof she’d witnessed. But this was different. Fun didn’t even like to watch others kill zombies, Party knew that from the journey to New Georgia. “You would never hurt me, Fun.”

“I never want to,” Fun said, sounding more sad than panicked now, still curled up and facing away from Party. “Please, go back to the town and keep yourself safe.”

“Fun, are you bleeding?” Party asked calmly, taking a step toward her.

“Stop! Don’t get close!” Fun scrambled to move further from her, but Party took the opportunity to reach down and grab her shoulders, steadying her and getting a look at her face.

Fun had blood all over her face. It was so densely splattered that it was even in her mouth and eyes. It drenched the neck of her shirt, along with her own sweat from the heat and humidity. Party couldn’t piece together what had happened. She must’ve been around the man when he’d died. Did she know him?

“Fun, what happened to you?” Party asked quietly, reaching her hand down into the water so she could try to clean Fun’s face. 

“I-” Fun tried to pull herself free, but Party had an iron grip. “I-I can’t tell you, I can’t, I’m sorry, I-!”

“Shh, Fun, calm down.” Party gently rubber her wet hand over Fun’s cheek, effectively getting her hand all bloody. She tutted to herself. “Whatever happened is over. We need to get you cleaned up and back to the town. You need to sleep.”

Fun looked entranced, caught in Party’s gaze. She nodded slightly and turned to the water. Party let go of Fun’s arm and wet her sleeves in the river. Fun splashed water on her face and let Party scrub at her neck and shirt to try and get some of the blood out of it. Fun washed her mouth out and then let Party clean her face. They were silent, listening to the slight breeze blow around them. 

From the top of the hill, Kid came running out of the forest, calming down instantly when she saw the two women.

“Jesus christ, please don’t run off like that,” she said as she joined them by the river. “What happened?”

“I think Fun saw what happened to that guy and the walker,” Party said, helping Fun stand up. “She was covered in blood but she’s unharmed. We’ll talk about it back in town, she’s kind of frazzled right now.”

Kid nodded and they started off back toward the town’s large walls, sometimes even visible through the tops of the trees.

* * *

Party and Fun went to Fun’s room, going straight to the bathroom. The inn had handed out dehumidifiers in the midday, so it was much easier to breathe inside. Fun found herself cold, covered in a sweat-soaked shirt and the sun long gone. She shivered as she walked into the bathroom.

“I’ll get you a spare shirt,” Party said, stepping back out into the room.

“You shouldn’t be the one helping me,” Fun said absently, sitting on the edge of the tub. “You should be resting.”

“Well, then you shouldn’t have made me worry all day,” Party said dismissively, bringing in a spare t-shirt.

“I-I need a long sleeve…” Fun muttered, tiredly fighting off Party’s hands that reached for her hemline. “I can’t wear that.”

“What?” Party scoffed. “You must’ve been burning up earlier.”

“’M cold now,” Fun said with a small shrug, hugging her arms around her middle. “Please just find a long sleeve.”

Party looked at her a moment longer, then stepped back and went back out to find a long sleeved shirt.

As she searched, Fun thought about her situation. She could tell Party now. She had a perfect chance. But what if she got scared of her? She should be scared of her, Fun thought grimly. She’d killed two people today. But maybe, a hopeful voice said from her heart, maybe Party would be understanding. Maybe she would understand, like no one ever had before, and show her mercy. Continue to show her kindness. 

Fun shakily pulled at the still-wet sleeves of her striped shirt, trembling from the cold and from what she was about to do. Party came in just as she was pulling her shirt over her head, her arms still hidden.

“Good, just put it aside and I’ll make sure it gets washed,” Party said, holding a fresh long sleeved shirt.

“Please,” Fun whispered.

“What?” Party knelt down in front of her, searching her face. “What’s wrong?”

“Please don’t scream, please don’t- don’t freak out, I-” Fun felt her sleeves pull, the weight of the soaked shirt tugging it off of her, exposing her bare chest and arms. “P-please…”

Party didn’t make a sound as she saw why Fun was so incredibly terrified. Fun’s arms were full- absolutely covered- in zombie bites. Party could tell there were remnants of tattoos she’d once had, now horrifying blotches of twisted colors and lines, interrupted by scars shaped like teeth marks. Her skin had been pulled in all directions, frozen in a moment she surely would never forget and never wanted to remember. The bites stopped around her shoulders, and her hands were thankfully left unharmed, leaving the tattoos there still vivid. It was clear to Party that she had used her arms to protect herself from a horde, nearly torn apart by it. She didn’t realize she was crying until she felt her chest caving in.

Fun jolted as Party gently took her hands, all the more gently running a thumb over a scar at her wrist. Fun glanced up and found herself transfixed on Party’s face. She looked so, so sad. Her face was twisted with anguish, realizing what Fun had gone through to get these scars. Fun felt her nose prickle as her eyes welled with her own tears. Party pulled her forward and into her arms, cradling her head carefully and squeezing her tight.

“I’m so sorry you had to go th-through that,” Party hiccuped, sobbing into Fun’s shoulder. “I-I can’t- I can’t believe-”

Fun slowly wrapped her own arms around Party, shoving her face into the crook of her neck.

“I can’t believe how strong you are,” Party finally got out, taking a jagged breath in.

Fun broke then, her chest caving like Party’s had, an anguished cry leaving her mouth as the love in Party’s voice tore at her heart. No one had ever reacted this way to her scars. No one. There had been “I don’t know what you are, but you need to leave” and that was about as nice as people got. Never this. Never empathy. 

Party held her until she felt her breathing start to even out, still taking large breaths but not gasping from sobbing anymore. Party helped her get the new shirt on, softly running her hands down Fun’s arms when she had it on.

“Do they still hurt?” Party asked. Her voice was tired from crying.

Fun silently shook her head, sniffling.

“How long have you had them?”

“A long time…” Fun couldn’t even place how long ago she’d gotten them. It had probably been years. Since just after everything started, she assumed. She’d been rolling with a group, they had become her family, then it all shattered in an instant. They’d crashed the van, been hit by another group’s car, Fun went flying right in the middle of a horde. Her family had left her, not risking getting bitten to try and save someone who was almost certainly a goner. Fun didn’t hold it against them, she understood. She thought she was gone too. But she wasn’t. And that was worse.

“Hey,” Party said softly, jostling Fun’s shoulders. “Come back to me.”

“Sorry,” Fun muttered, sniffling again. “Can’t think about it.”

“We both need rest, let’s both go to bed.” Party helped her stand up, running her hand over Fun’s cheeks to clear off the rest of her tears. 

Fun sat on her bed and sighed.

“I’m right next door with Star, so knock on the wall if you need anything.” Party smiled at her.

“P?” Fun looked up at her. “Please don’t-”

“I would never,” Party reassured. “I would never.”

Fun sighed again, feeling relieved.

“You’re not gonna turn, are you? You haven’t yet. There’s no reason to tell them.” Party nodded as she spoke. “You’re not dangerous.”

Fun barely nodded. She was dangerous.

“Again, I’ll be right next door.” Party turned and walked to the door, pausing as she took the handle. “Please don’t run off again.”

“I wont,” Fun promised. She wouldn’t. But she was dangerous.

Party left then, quietly shutting the door behind her. Fun stared at the door and felt herself slip into the sense of loneliness she was used to. But then a memory; Party’s soft hands on her face, her empathetic reaction to her scars, the way she’d held her like she was something so precious and important to her, like she was family. Fun started to cry again, tears flowing from her eyes before she could blink. She sat quietly curled up on her bed, not wanting Party to hear her crying.

Everything was so overwhelming now.

* * *

The next morning, they were given tasks. Caregiver wanted them to be prepared for Party’s baby, even if it was a month or so away. She was far too pregnant to have gone out like she had yesterday, and Caregiver and Dr. Death were both very disappointed to hear she’d done something so dangerous. Dr. D wanted them to be punished, even getting Show Pony’s approval to do so, but Caregiver insisted on chores instead of being grounded. So, Kid and Star were off to collect water from the river. Their task was to make sure they gathered enough water to be able to wash both mother and child when the time came, since running water wasn’t something they’d been able to master yet in New Georgia. Lindsey, so far on wall repair duty, was sent to get medical supplies from a nearby abandoned hospital. Party was slightly worried about him getting back okay, but she also knew he was capable of taking care of himself. 

Fun’s task wasn’t so much to do with Party and her coming baby, it was more to do with taking it easy. Party had told Dr. Death about her freak out and seeing those two guys get offed and turned. Dr. Death had told Caregiver and they’d said it was important for her to try and relax. Fun found that, frankly, funny. All her years of relaxing in loneliness in the city she owned and now that she’s around people she’s more high strung than she’s ever been, even before the fucking apocalypse. 

She waved to Star and Kid as they left through the gate, armed to their teeth with New Georgia’s best weapons. Fun wanted to go with them, to be some kind of protection, but she was essentially being forced to do what Party was forced to be doing. Relaxing.

They were sat together on one of the balconies of the inn playing checkers. Party was red, she was winning. Fun was black, she was losing. And bored. 

“I know it’s hard,” Party said suddenly. They’d been playing in silence since they started. “Relaxing, not checkers.”

“Not for you,” Fun muttered, moving another piece, only to be captured by Party again. “Fuck.”

“You’ve gotta pay more attention,” Party chuckled. “Relaxing in this world is hard. It’s not something we’re used to doing.”

“Well, it’s not something you’re used to doing,” Fun said, biting her cheek and examining the board nervously. “When I lived in the city, I was super relaxed.”

“How?” Party found that amusing, for some reason Fun couldn’t place. Then she realized the city was dense with zombies. The idea of being relaxed in that place was funny to her.

“They don’t bother me,” Fun said, looking up at her.

“Yeah but they’re still-”

“No, P, they don’t want to eat me,” Fun said quieter.

Party’s eyes widened.

“They leave me alone. I can even communicate with them.”

Party stared at her, looking for any sign of her joking. “You’re not fucking with me?”

“No.” Fun looked back at the checkerboard, moving one of her pieces to a safe area. “I would play concerts for them with that guitar I brought.”

“No shit?” Party was thinking about a lot of things. “Why haven’t you told-”

“Because, no one would believe me. Not unless they saw it. And if they did, they’d think I was a freak and try to kill me.”

“Have people done that before?”

“Yeah.” Fun huffed, looking up from the board. “It’s your turn.”

“Oh,” Party said, snapping herself out of her thoughts. She moved a piece. “So, you’ve tried to tell others?”

“Not for a while, they always get weird about it.” Fun smiled to herself as she took Party’s piece. “Now who needs to pay more attention?”

“Oh shit,” Party grumbled, staring at the board, eyebrows drawn. 

They focused on playing for a while, and Party seemed to be thinking about a lot of things. She was absently tapping the checkerboard with one finger while her other hand rested on her pregnant belly.

“So, you’re kind of like Jesus, though,” Party said suddenly, taking two of Fun’s pieces in one go.

“Fuck!” Fun shouted, slamming her fist on her knee. Then she looked at Party. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“Well, maybe not like Jesus,” Party mused, tapping the board more. “Maybe just- like, new Jesus.”

“New Jesus,” Fun deadpanned. “That’s a great nickname, please don’t call me that.”

“Think about it,” Party said, smiling at her. “You could lead humanity into a new era. You could protect people from the zombies.”

“People don’t need to be protected from them,” Fun sighed. “They’re still people.”

“They try to eat people,” Party argued.

“They can’t help it,” Fun argued back.

“How would you know? Have you asked them?” Party seemed defensive, but Fun was even moreso.

“I…” Fun glanced around, making sure no one else was on their balconies. “I-… I killed those two guys…”

Party eyed her for a while before realizing what she meant.

“You said I’m not dangerous, but… I’m not immune,” Fun whispered.

“You’re half,” Party finished her thought, gasping softly. “You-”

“Please don’t tell anyone, I fuckin’- I can’t control it, I didn’t even realize it was happening in the city because there were no people to go after so it was just like every other day, except I moved a bit slower. But out here, with all these people, I felt it coming.”

“That’s why you left?”

“I had to. I couldn’t put you guys in danger. But I ran into two guys out there and it- it just came out. I couldn’t stop it, all I could do was make sure they didn’t make noise so that no one would come looking for them.”

“Why wouldn’t you want people to go looking for them?” Party looked mad, but Fun scoffed.

“I was fucking rabid, P! If people came looking for them I would’ve hurt them! And then they would’ve killed me!” Fun was whisper-yelling, still glancing around to make sure no one was listening. “I didn’t want anyone from the town to get hurt!”

Party seemed to calm herself down, thinking hard about what Fun was telling her. She was taking the “I killed two people because I’m part zombie and ate their fucking necks” pretty well. Probably too well. It was probably due to the previous trauma she’d endured because of the apocalypse. 

“So, let me get this straight, from the top,” Party said after a while, taking a breath and moving her checkers pieces to take Fun’s remaining pieces, winning the game. “You were in a horrible accident, but instead of turning you…?”

“I assume mutated,” Fun filled in.

“Mutated. Into something in the middle. So, to keep yourself safe and other people safe, you moved to the city?”

“After some failed attempts to get people to understand and let me join their groups, yes.”

“Okay. Failed attempts lead to you living in the city alone. Zombies don’t bother you because you’re half dead, but you can also fit into groups of humans because you’re half alive.” Party was drumming her fingers on her knee. “What the hell did you do in there all alone?”

“Tried to find purpose,” Fun answered honestly. “When you’re invincible in a world full of survivalists, it actually gets pretty boring. That’s why I wanted to go with you guys, so you didn’t have to suffer so much… Gives me something to do, some purpose in the world…”

“I hope we can give you that,” Party said sincerely. “And I promise not to tell the others. Not yet.”

“Yet?” Fun looked at her, worried.

“Yet. At some point I think you should tell them.” Party started cleaning up the checkerboard. “I mean, it kind of changes everything.”

Fun helped her clean up, not saying anything. She thought about it. It wasn’t fair to make them suffer when she could literally just convince the zombies to leave them alone. It had been most important to tell Party, in Fun’s opinion, because she was the pregnant one. But eventually, everyone had to know.

When they walked inside to put the game away, Party shut the balcony doors and stood there, looking out at the wall. 

“I feel so much safer now,” Party said suddenly, surprising herself with that fact.

“Good,” Fun mumbled, turning to look at her. “That was the point… As long as I can go places with you, you and your kid will always be safe.”

“Our protector,” Party mused, gazing at the wall, an expression of wonder on her face as she ran a hand over her stomach.

Fun felt her stomach do something funny, her cheeks heating up. That was something she hadn’t felt in a while, and was wholly unprepared for right now. She turned and shoved the checkerboard into its box, sliding the pieces in with it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like this chapter? Please let me know!   
> I appreciate each and every one of you, I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading!!


	3. New Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A CONVERSATION ABOUT RAPE. PLEASE READ WITH CAUTION IF YOU ARE EASILY TRIGGERED BY THE TOPIC OF RAPE.]
> 
> How come all it takes is an apocalypse for people to open up to each other?  
> Why Party Poison is pregnant, Fun Ghoul's biggest secret and an old memory, and what Party Poison and Kobra Kid's favorite movies are...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm serious, this is the chapter (and probably the only one) where they talk about the rape that led to Party Poison being pregnant. If you have trouble with that topic, please read with caution. There is no graphic detail, there is no full description of the incident, but the scene contains talk about it and also the manipulative mindset of Party's previous partner that led to his actions. I just want to be extra careful for you all.   
> That being said, please enjoy this chapter!

A couple weeks later, after Lindsey and the party he’d been sent with came back safe with armfuls of medical supplies, everyone was all sitting down for breakfast when they got an announcement from Caregiver. There was a horde about a half-mile wide heading their way from the north west. Caregiver was sure the walls would hold, but they were concerned about their stock of ammo and therefore their ability to dispatch the horde quickly. I would become an issue if they ran out of ammo without getting rid of them all. They would all be trapped inside the walls without a way to get more, and without a way to get any supplies they needed. Caregiver left with Dr. D to talk about possible alternatives, like leading them away with a small party of people or something. Nobody could hear the rest of their conversation once they were out of the house.

Fun glanced around the table. Star and Kid were pretty quiet people, she had observed. They were quiet now too, eating their breakfast at a relaxed pace, not participating in any conversation. Party was eating her second serving of breakfast, ridiculously hungry lately. She was usually the one to spark up conversation with anyone else. 

Party suddenly froze in her movements, dropping her fork and putting her hands on her stomach, face contorted in pain.

“Are you okay?” Fun asked immediately, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Ah, fuck,” Party panted, hanging her head and taking a slow, controlled breath. “C-contractions I think…”

“Isn’t that a sign of going into labor?” Fun asked, panicked. She looked to Kid and Star, who both seemed close to panicking as well.

“S-sometimes it’s not,” Party said through her teeth. Then she finally relaxed, sighing. “Fuck, I hope this place has strong meds. I am not dealing with that kind of pain when this little buttface finally decides to show up.”

Everyone at the table relaxed with her, though Star and Kid still looked concerned.

“Are you sure it’s not labor pains?” Star asked.

“How would you be able to tell the difference?” Kid asked worriedly. “Maybe we should get you to the clinic just in case-”

“I’m fine now,” Party said, waving them off. “I promise, it’s totally normal.”

“If you say so,” Star said, going back to her breakfast but glancing up at her every few moments.

After breakfast, Party went back to her room with Star and Kid, and Fun went back to her room. She shut the door and huffed a sigh, resting her forehead on the door. It was still hard for her, being around people. It was hard to figure out what about it was so different from being around zombies, it must be some kind of cabin fever thing. She sat on her bed, pulling her legs up under her chin, closed her eyes, and tried to feel alone. But her heart sped up when she realized she couldn’t. She wasn’t alone, even if she was by herself in her room. If she made any kind of distressed noise, if she had any issue or question or concern, someone would be there for her. For some reason, that thought was terrifying and paralyzing. Even if she left, someone would come looking for her. She ran her hands through her dirty hair, taking a couple deep breaths. She needed a distraction from thinking about all this.

Luckily, someone knocked on her door just then. 

“Yeah?” Fun called, getting up to open the door. When she did, she saw Dr. Death Defying.

“Need you to stay with Party, keep her company,” she said immediately. She seemed to be mostly business. “Star, Kid, and I are heading out to help Caregiver set up a diversion for the horde.”

“Okay,” Fun said, nodding.

“Make sure she relaxes some,” Dr. Death added as she turned around to leave. “She’s stressing herself over the horde, and she doesn’t need that right now. The baby doesn’t need that.”

“Gotcha,” Fun said, just as Dr. Death was out of sight. Her head still spun a little when she talked to real human people like that. Like she was one of them. She was, she reminded herself, but still… So strange…

Fun walked the small distance to Party’s door, finding it cracked open slightly. Star was still gearing up and Fun caught a moment that didn’t feel like hers to see. Party grabbed her arm and pulled her in for a hug. Star reciprocated immediately, looping her arms around Party’s neck and holding her tight. Fun kept out of sight until Star finally left. She felt jealous.

“Hey,” Party said, giving Fun a weak smile. “Guess you’re my babysitter today?”

“If that’s how you want to see me,” Fun sighed. She plopped down next to Party on her bed. “Could give you the whole experience, watch old Disney movies, make mac-and-cheese, put you to bed by eight.”

Party laughed, the tension that Fun had seen in her shoulders releasing. “I’d kill a man for some mac-and-cheese right now, actually.”

“Let me make you some food, then,” Fun said, standing back up. 

“But I just had breakfast,” Party weakly protested. 

“Baby don’t care,” Fun pointed out, waving a hand around Party’s stomach. “Baby want mac-and-cheese!”

Party laughed again and gave in.

Fun ran downstairs to the front of the house where the kitchen was. Caregiver had graciously gifted them a house to stay in so that they didn’t have to stay in the inn when Party had her baby. Everyone in their group had moved in except for Lindsey, because he didn’t want the house to be too crowded. It wasn’t very big, only three bedrooms, but it was plenty for them. They’d slowly stocked up the kitchen for the past week, trying not to take more food than they needed but ultimately being given more than they wanted. Fun rooted around in the pantry for a box of mac-and-cheese and finally found one. Thank the absent Lord for preservatives, she thought, tearing the box open to start making it.

At some point, Party made her way slowly down the stairs, being extra careful not to go too fast so that she wouldn’t slip. She walked into the kitchen, huffing a sigh when she finally sat at the table.

“I would’ve brought it up to you,” Fun said over her shoulder. She put the pot of water on the stove and set it up to boil.

“Doc at the clinic said it’s good to keep moving around,” Party replied. She drummed her fingers on the table. “This is so weird.”

“What is?” Fun asked, walking over and sitting with her at the table.

“My whole situation right now,” Party sighed. “I’m pregnant, which I never thought would happen, never thought I’d ever want to keep it either… And then there’s the whole apocalypse thing, which I thought would end differently for me.”

“How do you mean?” Fun asked, laying her head on her arms on the table and looking up at Party’s face.

“Well I mean…” Party made an uncomfortable face. “I guess… I just thought I’d end up dead a lot earlier in it. I didn’t think I would adapt like I have.”

“Everyone adapts in their own way,” Fun said. “I probably would’ve ended up dead a lot earlier too, it was only thanks to the people I used to have in my life that I made it this long.”

Party shrugged. “If it wasn’t for this kid, I…”

“You don’t have to talk about it,” Fun said knowingly. She knew exactly where this was going, she had been there too, mentally.

“I mean, I feel like it has to be said.” Party ran a hand over her stomach. “If it wasn’t for you, I would be dead right now. Would’ve gotten myself killed trying to kill your dad.”

Fun made a face. She knew there was some terrible story behind Party’s pregnancy but she had never had the balls to ask. Now, it spilled out of her mouth. “Did he rape you?”

Party looked at her, frozen. At first, Fun thought she was going to say something like “no way” or something to that effect. But then her eyes filled with tears, she slapped a hand over her mouth, and she started trembling with sobs. Fun got up, not saying anything, and walked around the table to hug her. Party grabbed onto her like she was drowning in her tears, crying over Fun’s shoulder. Fun felt her nodding, like she even still needed to answer the question. 

They were both startled when they heard the sizzling of water boiling over. Party let Fun go so that she could handle it, trying to regain her composure at the table in the meantime. Fun turned the heat down, adding the pasta in and then stirring it for a little while. Then she went back to Party’s side, kneeling down next to her.

“I-it wasn’t like-” Party started, hiccuping from how much she’d cried.

“You don’t have to-” Fun started to say, but Party shook her head.

“It wasn’t even that bad, you know?” she said, giving a shuddering sigh. “He didn’t force me to have sex with him, he didn’t hurt me, he just… He didn’t wear a condom and he didn’t tell me until he was sure I was pregnant.”

Fun couldn’t find words to express her disgust and anger, but it must’ve been clear on her face because Party looked at her and chuckled slightly.

“Yeah, exactly…” She sighed again, calming down slowly. “It’s still rape.”

Fun nodded, still unable to say anything. She feared she’d start screaming if she opened her mouth.

“When I told him that, that he’d fucking raped me and that he was disgusting and horrible, he acted like me being pregnant meant that I was tied to him forever,” Party grimaced at the table. “Like he thought, ‘if she gets pregnant she’ll never be able to leave me’ or something.”

Fun took her hand and squeezed it.

“I punched him in the nose,” Party said, smiling at the memory of feeling his bones shift under her fist. “Broke it.”

“Good,” Fun said finally, forcing the bile back down her throat.

“I haven’t seen him since then.” Party gripped Fun’s hand back. “If I ever do again, I don’t know what I’d do…”

“I know what I’d do,” Fun said, getting up and going back to the stove, seeing the water about to boil over again. “I’d turn that fucker inside out.”

Party laughed, but she probably wouldn’t have if she’d seen Fun’s face. She glared into the pot of macaroni, imagining this mystery guy, chopping his dick off, knocking his teeth out, gouging his eyes out-

“Fun,” Party said, startling Fun out of her revenge fantasies. “The water.”

Fun jumped back from the stove when she felt the boiling water hit her hand. “Fuck!”

“Are you okay?” Party asked, getting up.

“Y-yeah, sit back down,” Fun said, holding her hand to her chest and walking to the sink. “Goddamn it, fuck, that hurt.”

Party did what she was told, but still looked at her in concern.

Fun ran her hand under cold water, but it was hardly cold enough to ease the pain.

“We should ask for some burn cream,” Party said, starting to get up again.

“After you eat,” Fun said. She went back to the noodles, taking them off the stove and hissing in pain as she did.

“Fun, you need to have someone look at your hand,” Party said gently. “I’m going to go-”

“N-no, I’ll go,” Fun said finally, sighing. “You finish the food and wait here for me.”

“Okay,” Party said, smiling at her. 

Fun left the house with her throbbing hand and headed for the clinic. On her way, a couple people asked if she was alright. She promised it was just a burn. That seemed to sooth their anxiety pretty fast.

Inside the clinic it wasn’t very busy. There was just enough medical grade equipment to make Fun feel uneasy. She’d never liked hospitals before the apocalypse, she’d had a tendency to get sick before being bitten. Her childhood was full of sad pictures from the hospital while she was stuck there with whatever fresh new lung illness made its way into her. The New Georgia clinic was almost big enough to be considered a hospital, but not quite.

“Oh golly,” the receptionist said in her thick southern accent as soon as Fun walked in. She reached for the walkie talkie and said into it, “Need a doctor for a mild to possibly moderate burn.”

Fun let herself be brought back to one of the many rooms and climbed up to sit on the exam bed. She let the doctor examine her hand closely, feeling sweat form on the back of her neck. She hoped to whatever god existed that he didn’t accidentally see her bites.

“Doesn’t look too terrible,” the doctor said, giving her hand a satisfied nod. “It might be swollen and tender for a few days, but it’s nothing that would require something serious like a skin graft. Burn cream and ice will help. But wrap the ice in something first.”

“You got anything lying around for pain?” Fun asked, sighing when the doctor started to apply the burn cream.

“The cream should help with some of it,” the doctor said, pursing his lips slightly. “I suppose I could give you permission to use some ibuprofen. That would help with swelling too.”

“That’d be awesome,” Fun agreed, taking her hand back to cradle it in her lap. “Hurts like a motherfucker.”

“I’m sure it does,” the doctor chuckled. “How did you burn it?”

“Cooking,” Fun grumbled. “Was boiling water.”

“Mm, not much advice I can give for that.” The doctor laughed a little. “I’m not very good at cooking. Maybe wear oven mitts next time?”

“Eh, just gotta pay more attention,” Fun said, shrugging. She smiled at him as she got up. “Thanks doc.”

“No problem,” he said, turning to scribble on the small notepad on the counter next to him. He handed Fun the slip of paper. “Take this to the receptionist, she’ll fill your prescription.”

“Thank you, again,” Fun said.

She left and got her shit from the front desk, then every step away from the clinic released the tension from her shoulders. Thank fuck he hadn’t needed to look anywhere but her hand. Fun took the front steps of the house two at a time and threw the door open.

“Fun?” Party called from the kitchen.

“Back!” she called back, coming into the kitchen and finding Party dutifully eating the now finished mac-and-cheese. “Doctor there said it wasn’t that bad, thankfully. Got some burn cream and some stuff to help with pain and swelling.”

“That’s good at least,” Party said, relaxing in her chair a bit. “I was worried it would be worse.”

“Yeah, it’s okay though.” Fun threw the bag of medicine on the counter and then joined Party at the table with a bowl of mac-and-cheese. When she sat down, she fiddled with her sleeves. It caught Party’s eye and she stared a moment.

“He didn’t see-” she started to say.

“Nope,” Fun interrupted. “He didn’t have to look too close, so…”

“Okay.” Party’s expression was unreadable, so Fun focused on eating. She wasn’t very hungry, but she ate anyway so that Party wouldn’t feel weird about eating alone. 

It would be all day until the others got back, so Fun had to think of some way to distract Party from the anxiety of her family being outside the walls. Board games sounded like a good start, checkers had worked before. When that got boring, Fun was hoping they could watch some of the movies she’d brought with her from the city. If they had been back in the city she would’ve had her full stash of DVDs to pull from. 

Fun forced herself not to think about the city, scrubbing their dishes a little harder. Party moved herself to the couch in the living room, sitting with her legs crossed. Fun pulled out their board games from the downstairs closet, considering which one they would play. When she couldn’t decide she just tucked three random ones under her arms and went out to the living room. 

“What are we playing?” Party asked, noting the sound of jostling plastic pieces.

“I dunno,” Fun sighed. She tossed the boxes onto the coffee table and sat across from Party on the floor. “I grabbed random ones.”

Party leaned forward to see the games. “Sorry, Risk, and Connect 4. Hmm…”

“Risk seems like a lot,” Fun said, pursing her lips.

“Yeah, I’m not feeling world domination right now,” Party agreed. “Connect 4 seems pretty chill.”

“We’ll start there, then,” Fun said with a nod.

They set up the game and Fun immediately lost the first game. She thought she’d know better, it wasn’t checkers, but checkers was also an incredibly rudimentary game that Fun was bad at. Party was enjoying herself at first, she won five games in a row, but then Fun started to realize she was letting her win. They switched games to Sorry, which was kind off boring with only two people.

“Eh, fuck this,” Fun said finally, leaning back from the table. “Let’s watch some movies.”

“But we don’t have any,” Party said, frowning at the fact. She did, however, seem perfectly fine stopping the game. 

“I have a couple from my place back at the city, do they have a DVD player we could borrow?”

Fun made the trip to the Borrower’s Den, essentially a thrift shop where you rented things instead of buying them. Like an everything-library. People from all over the community of New Georgia donated things to be lent out. She held open the door for someone who was just leaving and then went in to browse the electronics.

“Hey there, newbie,” the owner said from behind the counter, smiling at her and leaning on his elbows. “Need anything specific?”

“DVD player?” Fun asked, spotting a VCR and seriously considering grabbing it.

“Got a couple, even have a blueray if you need that too,” he said, pointing to the shelf. “Anything else?”

“Nope,” Fun said, giving him a quick smile. She grabbed a random DVD player off the shelf and turned to leave. She tried to push down the strange feeling of anxiety that was creeping up every time she talked to another human being.

“Hey, hold on!” he called, laughing slightly. “Gotta put your name down first.”

“Oh, sorry.” Fun turned around and took the pen off the counter, leaning over the sheet and signing her name. It had been a long time since she had written anything, her handwriting looked like shit.

“Thanks very much,” the owner said, turning the sheet around once she’d signed it. When he read her name he blinked. “Fun Ghoul. Huh.”

Sweat prickled on the back of her neck. There was no way, no fucking way he knew her. She would’ve remembered his face.

“That name sounds familiar,” the guy said, but he looked more confused when he looked back up at her. “Thought I knew a guy by that name once.”

Oh thank fuck, she thought trying not to outwardly react. “You probably did, he was the leader of a pretty big gang in the west.”

“Oh shit, he was!” the guy exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “That’s right! And oh man, that means you’re the one who-!”

“I am, but it’s not like it’s a big deal,” Fun said, grinning despite herself. “Never thought I’d end up liking his rule of taking the name of the person you killed.”

“Fucker deserved it,” the guy said, shaking his head. “Hope it felt good, offing that asshole.”

“I’m not about to brag about killing another person,” she said, waving a hand. Then she glanced around to make sure they were alone. “But it definitely did, it felt like a goddamn movie. Righteous motherfuckin’ retribution.”

“That’s so awesome,” he laughed. “Well, shit. Glad I got to meet you!”

“Eh, not like I’m a celebrity, but nice to meet you too,” Fun squinted at his small name tag. “Aaron.”

“Wish I had accepted his offer for rewriting my name,” Aaron sighed. “Could’ve thought of something cooler than my real name.”

Fun grimaced. “Trust me, no you don’t.”

“Why?” He raised an eyebrow. 

“Too big a price,” she said, not wanting to think about it too hard. “Anyway, thanks for the DVD player.”

“Oh right! Yeah, enjoy it! You can keep it for as long as you want.”

“Really? I thought there was a limit.”

“Not for you,” he said with a smile. “I’ll cover for you if you want to keep it forever. The person who rid the west of that gang deserves way more than a DVD player.”

Fun smiled. “Thanks.”

She ran back to the house before she took too long. She had to stop fucking leaving Party alone. Something could happen while she was gone, she thought anxiously, bounding up the front stairs like earlier. But Party was exactly where Fun had left her, sitting on the couch, staring at the empty fireplace, probably wondering why there was a fireplace in a house with summers this hot and muggy. Fun had to stop suddenly, because she was hit with the same feeling that she’d had after their checkers game. Party was sitting on the couch, one hand slowly running up and down her stomach, and Fun could barely see the expression on her face but she was sure it was that of complete wonder. It was as if she was daydreaming, and maybe she was. Fun felt her chest warm up, and her shoulders relax, and couldn’t stop staring at this beautiful woman. She let herself be selfish, she daydreamed that she’d just come back from the store, that her beautiful pregnant girlfriend was waiting patiently for her, that she would turn around and smile this huge smile and say “welcome home, baby” and then suddenly Fun’s face was completely red because what the fuck, where did that come from?!

“Oh, Fun, you’re back,” Party said, finally realizing Fun was there, turning around to see her. “You got the DVD player?”

“Y-yep,” Fun forced out, crossing the room to the old TV in the corner.

“Are you okay?” Party asked, belatedly noticing Fun’s red face.

“Yeah, it’s just hot outside.” Fun tried to brush it off quickly.

“You could take your shirt off,” Party said, clearly without thinking. Fun now had a new reason for her face to be red, and Party’s face lit up as well. “I-I mean-! I meant, like- b-because- your arms!”

Fun cracked up, covering her face with her hand.

“I meant like- change your shirt to a t-shirt or something!” Party squawked, covering her own face too. 

Fun flopped onto the couch beside her and put an arm around her shoulder. “You tryin’ to put the moves on me, lady?”

“Ugh!” Party groaned, shoving her off.

Fun laughed. “What movie do you want to watch?”

Party kept her face covered but sighed at the question. “Anything but a zombie movie.”

“Eugh, good call,” Fun said, grimacing. “I’ll pick something out.”

“Maybe ghosts,” Party said as Fun got up off the couch.

“I’ll see what I have,” Fun promised. 

Fun dug through the bag in her room, making a face at the zombie movies she’d packed. She’d also packed the Exorcist and Poltergeist, so she grabbed those and headed back downstairs. She held up the movies for Party to choose.

“Hm, Exorcist,” Party said, nodding to herself.

“Good choice,” Fun agreed. She turned around and put the movie in, then walked around the coffee table to sit next to Party on the couch.

At first, they watched the movie like it was their first time seeing it. About halfway in, Party was shifting around a lot, trying to get comfortable. Fun silently got up and handed her a pillow so she could lay on her side, then pulled her feet up into her lap so she was comfortable. By the end of the movie, Fun was absentmindedly rubbing Party’s feet while she slept through the credits. Since she couldn’t get up, she just restarted the movie on a quieter volume. Eventually she couldn’t keep her eyes open either.

* * *

Fun and Party were startled awake by people coming in the front door. Loud footfalls of combat boots and the shuffling of leather straps and cotton shirts and denim jeans. Their group had come back from their mission, and Fun noticed the sun was down. She was not likely to sleep tonight.

“Oh shit, sorry guys,” Star said immediately when she saw them both. “Didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“’S fine,” Fun muttered, rubbing her eyes.

Party sat up next to her, yawning wide. “How’d it go?”

“As well as it could,” Kid said, coming over to hug her sister. “How are you feeling?”

“Sleepy,” Party replied, leaning on her shoulder.

“You better go to bed then,” Kid chuckled. She looked up at Fun, catching her gaze. She smiled, a grateful smile. Fun smiled back, a “no biggie” smile.

Once Kid took Party upstairs, Dr. Death Defying came to take her place on the couch, undoing the fasteners of her prosthetic leg and sighing in relief once they were off. 

“How did it go?” Fun asked, assuming this answer would be the honest one.

“We managed to trick about half the horde to peel off, but there’s still too many headed our way,” Dr. Death answered, sighing in frustration this time. “If there were more space between us and them, we could try the same thing again, but…”

Fun couldn’t say a damn thing, but she had suddenly had an idea just then. She could probably convince them to turn around or go somewhere else. She sat with this thought as Star started talking with Show Pony about their options, she held it with her as she went upstairs to Party’s room and tagged out Kid, and she knew who she could bring it to.

“I have an idea,” Fun said as soon as Kid left the room, shutting the door behind her. 

“Uh oh,” Party chuckled. She was on her side in bed, she looked tired enough to go right back to sleep for the night. When she saw how serious Fun looked, she seemed to wake up a bit and start taking whatever conversation they were about to be having seriously. “What is it?”

“They couldn’t distract the whole horde,” Fun started, wringing her hands slightly, fidgeting with her ring on the middle finger of her left hand. “So there’s still a lot headed for here.”

“Okay,” Party said, nodding slowly. “And you have an idea?”

“I-I could talk to them,” Fun said. She didn’t know why she felt like this was such a risk, bringing up this idea. But then, she reminded herself, it was a risk. She had a group that would notice if she was missing, maybe that was why she had come to Party with the idea first at all. “I could try to convince them to turn around.”

Party stared at her. “That’s really dangerous, I don’t want you out there alone.”

“It’s less dangerous for me to go than for any of you guys to,” Fun reasoned. “They don’t want to eat me.”

Party looked conflicted. “If you… If you think you can convince them, then I…”

“They always listened to me in the city,” Fun said, remembering how literally every day she had kept them out of harm’s way. “If I’m lucky, they might be from the city.”

Slowly, wincing, Party pushed herself upright. 

“I could slip out tonight, talk to them and get them to turn around, and be back before the morning.” Fun took her arm to help her steady herself as she sat up.

“If you’re absolutely sure…” Party looked at her with worry. “But you have to promise you’ll come back.”

“Of course,” Fun said seriously, squeezing her hand. “I promised I wouldn’t run away, I will come back.”

Party nodded and let Fun’s hand go. She sighed as Fun stood. “Be careful. If they don’t listen, come straight back and don’t get hurt.”

“I’ll be the most carefulest ever,” Fun promised, trying to lighten the mood a little. Her heart skipped a beat when Party looked up at her, her eyes shining from the moonlight. Fun spoke more seriously the second time. “I’ll be extra careful.”

* * *

Fun slipped out of the house once everyone had settled for the night. From her bedroom window, strong tree branches sometimes brushed against the house. She dropped down from the tree and moved through the shadows toward the front gate. She knew they would never open it overnight unless it was an emergency, so she would just have to make one or land a really good deception roll with the guard. Or, she thought as she got closer to the guard station where only one guard sat in the box, she could knock the guy out, open the gate, and then start to close it again and slip out. Any way she decided to do this, it would probably end poorly for her, so she said fuck it and snuck into the guard station. She knew how to choke a person out, she just hoped this person wasn’t stronger than her.

He did thrash around, but she managed to get him to pass out before she ran out of strength. She quickly hit the button to open the gate, waited until there was just enough room, and then slammed it down again to close it. She sprinted out the door toward the gate, slipping through the gate just as it closed. She heard some conversation on the other side of the wall, but it was mostly confusion and questions about a malfunction in the gate. Perfect.

Fun sprinted through the woods toward the general direction of the horde, she remembered them saying it was north-west of New Georgia. It felt like hours before she finally started hearing moaning in the distance. No wonder they’d taken all day. Fun had forgotten how slowly zombies moved after being around the normal speed of humans. She finally spotted the ones at the front and they spotted her too, looking confused.

“Hey!” she shouted, waving her arms over her head. “You guys gotta turn around!”

A few of the zombies at the front looked at each other, then back to her.

“If you go this way, all of you will end up dead,” she said. “The town you’re headed for has a fuckload of guns and ammo, they’ll kill you all before you can get your hands on anything.”

One zombie at the front, a guy with part of his face missing, like he’d been shot before and barely avoided getting shot in the brain, moved forward and shook his head.

“I’m serious, they’ll kill you guys,” Fun insisted, not moving from her spot as he got closer.

“Uhhnnn,” the guy groaned, sneering slightly.

“What?” Fun blinked at him. 

The guy growled, pushing her out of the way.

“Hey!” she shouted, running to get back in front of him. “Fucking- fuck off, dude! I’m trying to save you guys! You won’t get any food from them, they have high walls and tons of ammo-!”

The guy snapped at her, narrowly missing her hand. He grumbled a bit and made some motions with his hands. Fun understood what he was saying, he had seen their group earlier distract half the horde and he was determined to lead the rest of his horde to the town because he knew they would will if they still had enough of them. He knew she was bluffing.

He pushed past her again, waving for the rest of the horde to follow.

“All that’ll happen is you guys will be stuck banging on the walls forever while they take you guys out!” Fun yelled, keeping up with him easily. “Stop being like that, there are tons of other places you could go to get food! You can still eat animals, you know!”

The guy ignored her, shuffling through the brush.

“Come on, man!” Fun groaned. She ran back to the front, forcing him to stop again. “Fuck off, go somewhere else!”

He snapped again, close to her face. It was her turn to call his bluff though, because she stayed perfectly still and he kept about an inch away from her. He made a conflicted noise.

“I know you don’t want to hurt me, and I don’t want to hurt you,” Fun said, trying to stay calm. “We’re family, just as much as me and those people within the walls are my family-”

When she said that, he sneered again, gurgling in disgust. 

“Hey, you used to be human!” Fun snapped. She was getting pissed off at this fucker, she was losing her patience. 

He groaned and shook his head, pointing to his face and humming.

“They just don’t understand-” Fun started, but the guy leaned back and fully laughed.

He pointed to his face again, then made the signed in sign language “mother” to her.

Fun froze, her eyes widening. She knew it now, there was no way she could talk this guy out of it.

He started to walk toward her to go past her again, and she finally decided there was no other option. She planted her feet, rolled her shoulders forward, and channeled her little monster.

“They’re mine!” she growled, sneering at him and getting in his face. She pulled out all the stops, looking as threateningly undead as possible. 

He seemed surprised, almost impressed, and finally backed up. He looked at her curiously.

“Fucking turn around!” she screamed, grinding her teeth. “They’re mine, every last one!”

She even snapped at a few zombies who tried to walk past her, forcing them back. The one she’d been talking to shrunk a little, shoulders hunching at her display of dominance. He looked at her again and she kept his gaze with eyes that dared him to make a move. He gave in and looked down, turning around to direct the rest of the horde away from her.

She stayed a while, watching them shamble off, heaving breaths as she attempted to get ahold of herself again. She held her head, trying to stop herself from shaking. She felt her voice try to pull out of her, trying to groan and follow the horde, join them and walk into oblivion with them. She coughed and dropped to her knees, finally forcing air in and out normally.

She jumped when she heard something move behind her. Over her shoulder she saw something- someone that made her stomach drop.

“F-Fun?” Star said, face stuck in a horrified expression. Behind her, Dr. Death Defying held up a pistol with a silencer. 

Fuck, Fun thought, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

* * *

“A malfunction with the gate?” Kid said, looking down the stairs where Dr. Death was standing at the open front door.

“Apparently,” she said, gazing out into the night. “Caregiver said the guard had been knocked out and that the gate opened and then closed.”

“What the fuck,” Star muttered, shaking her head.

Kid noticed Party was quiet. She narrowed her eyes and when Party looked up, she paled slightly. Fucking really, Kid thought.

As she went for Fun’s door, Party shouted, “Kid no!”

Empty. The window was open. The tree brushed the side of the house.

“Motherfucker,” Kid spat, turning around. “It was Fun Ghoul, she fucking ran off again!”

“What?!” Dr. Death shouted. “Are you kidding me?!”

Suddenly, Party screamed in pain and fell against the door frame of her room. “A-ah fuck!”

“Now?!” Show Pony groaned. “Grab her, we have to get to the clinic!”

“But Fun-!” Kid started, but Star took her arm.

“Me and Dr. D will go get her, you go be with your sister,” she said, squeezing her arm slightly.

“O-okay,” Kid sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Fuck, seriously?”

“Just try to focus on Party,” Star said, patting her back as she went to get her stuff.

Star and Dr. Death met Caregiver at the gate and explained that it was likely Fun Ghoul again, that they would go ofter her and bring her back safely. Caregiver gave them very concerned looks and asked them to be safe, that the night brought more death than usual, and they promised they would be careful.

They made it out and Dr. Death immediately headed north-west.

“Where are you going?” Star asked quietly.

“She left after I talked about the horde, I assume she’s being a dumbass,” Dr. Death said with a huff. 

“She wouldn’t really try to do that by herself, would she?”

“We don’t know anything about what she would or wouldn’t do, Star,” Dr. Death said over her shoulder. “We barely know the girl.”

“I guess…” Star bit her lip. “But we know she’d do anything for Party Poison.”

Dr. Death looked over her shoulder at Star, then nodded slightly. “Seems that way, doesn’t it…”

They walked in silence to avoid getting caught off-guard. The woods were thankfully devoid of walkers, it seemed. As they moved further north over the next couple of hours, Star started to think she was hearing things. Things like conversation. Yelling and groaning and-

“Shh,” Dr. Death said suddenly, pulling Star behind a tree. 

She saw it, peeking around Dr. D. The horde. And in front of it, the small frame of Fun Ghoul. It made her heart speed up, but to their confusion the horde allowed themselves to be stopped by her. 

“They just don’t understand-” Fun was saying, and she was cut off by laughing. Gut-twisting laughing- laughing from a fucking walker? 

“They’re mine!” Fun suddenly growled, and it sent chills down Star’s spine. She sounded like a- “Fucking turn around! They’re mine, every last one!”

Star and Dr. Death stood there, frozen in fear of what they’d just heard. She sounded fucking feral, like she was turning, like she was already one of them. Dr. D quietly cocked her gun as the horde started moving away. Fun made some pretty terrifying noises for a while before dropping to the ground and seeming to calm down. When it seemed like the coast was clear of the horde, Dr. Death stepped out. Star stepped in front of her, still confused about the situation.

“F-Fun?” Star said shakily as Fun looked over her shoulder in shock.

She stared for a long while until she finally, and very slowly, moved to hold up her hands. “I-I’m not going to hurt you.”

Star was about to respond when Dr. Death stepped around her.

“I’d like some explanation before I believe that,” she said, voice devoid of emotion.

Fun swallowed and turned to sit on the ground, hands still up. “I-I was just trying to get them to t-turn around. They- they wouldn’t listen l-like the ones from the city-”

“What?” Star said, stepping forward. “You can-”

“Are you one of them?” Dr. Death asked, interrupting Star.

“N-…” Fun winced. “I… I don’t know what I am.”

Dr. Death shook her head, finally letting her fear and anger and sadness show on her face. “That’s not what you’re supposed to say.”

Fun very slowly held her arms out and started pulling her sleeves up, tears forming in her eyes as she did so. “I-I’m not one of them, but I’m not-”

Star gasped when she saw the scars all over Fun’s arms. She covered her mouth with her hand and couldn’t stop staring at them. Possibly a hundred bites, all up her arms. Star wondered how far they went, if they covered her torso.

“I was supposed to die, or turn, but I…” Fun’s hands shook as she held them out. “I didn’t.”

Dr. Death stared at them in horror. Her stance faltered, gun trembling in her hands. 

“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Fun sniffled. “I was trying to keep you all safe.”

“Does Party know?” Star finally asked, steeling herself and forcing herself to look at Fun’s face instead of her arms. She remembered how Party had acted when Kid went to check Fun’s room. 

Fun nodded, somewhat feverishly, like she was getting an idea. “O-oh, yeah! She does! She can vouch for me! I-I don’t want to hurt anyone, I showed her before and-!”

“She didn’t tell us?” Dr. Death said, confused. “Why?”

Fun didn’t say anything, just kind of shrugging.

“We should ask her about it,” Star said to Dr. Death, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“I’ll stay out here,” Fun said suddenly. “You guys go back, I’ll stay outside the walls. If you don’t trust me, I’ll stay away from you guys. Ask Party about it, she can explain everything.”

Dr. Death looked at her again, the way she was still sitting, arms out, completely vulnerable and honest. Dr. D nodded and lowered her gun. “A-alright. You stay out here, we’ll go figure out what’s going on.”

Fun nodded putting her arms down and pulling the sleeves back down.

“She’s in labor,” Star said without thinking.

Fun’s eyes widened. “M-make sure she’s okay first, make sure that she and the baby are healthy.”

Dr. Death nodded, turning away. Star followed her and felt guilty leaving Fun there. Her reaction to the news was enough to solidify it for Star. Fun wasn’t dangerous to them. She wanted to protect Party and to protect everyone in their group. She clearly wasn’t whatever she was by choice, and it was clearly a horrifying story, and all of this was a waste of time. They should be bringing her back, Star thought sadly.

* * *

“What?!” Party shouted as soon as the words left their mouths. She was sneering at them, clearly keyed up by the amount of pain she was in. “You left her out there alone?!”

“We don’t know if she’s dangerous,” Dr. Death said calmly, reaching to put a hand on her shoulder.

“Fuck you! She isn’t dangerous!” Party slapped her hand away and groaned in pain. “Fuck, what ever happened to the fucking pain killers I was promised?!”

“They’re on their way back with them,” Kid croaked. Her hand was getting seriously crushed in Party’s. 

“You two,” Party growled, pointing to Dr. Death and Star, “go back out there and bring her the fuck here! She’s not fucking dangerous, and you guys leaving her alone out there is fucking horrible! We’re her family!”

“But-” Dr. Death started, but Party interrupted her.

“Shut the fuck up! Go get her or I fucking will!” Party glared at her and Star was amazed when Dr. Death had to look away. The power of a woman in labor, she thought.

“A-alright, we’ll bring her back to the house-”

“No, you bring her h-here!” Party hissed in pain. “F-fuck, bring her here and don’t be- fucking damn it! Don’t be assholes!”

“I think you need to try and calm down,” Kid said to no avail, her hand going numb.

“I think I need a fucking epidural!” Party shouted, slamming the nurse button for a third time. She went back to glaring at Dr. Death. “Go get Fun Ghoul right now! I will never fucking forgive you if something happens to her out there!”

Dr. Death nodded fast and pulled Star out of the room with her.

* * *

Fun found it funny that it was so cold. Maybe it was the adrenaline leaving her body, maybe it was the moisture in the air with no sun to heat it, but she was shivering in the dirt right where they left her. It brought back memories, sick and twisted memories of people with sick and twisted minds. The man she’d killed, the name she’d taken for her own, his cold hands and his cold stare and his cold knife on her skin. She’d been the youngest member to join, but he still expected her to act like an adult. To stay quiet like one. The dirt was familiar, it felt pretty much like any other dirt out there, maybe wetter. She dug her fingers into it, wondering how she would feel if she buried herself alive. Would she even care? If she was zombie enough, could she just sit there forever? She would’ve lied down in it to see if she wasn’t worried that Dr. Death Defying and Jet Star would come back and think she was dead. Maybe that would work out for everyone.

God, where had all her progress gone? Had she ever made progress? She felt empty again, but in the painful way that told her with surprise that she had at some point not been empty. In the city, she’d felt emptiness like it was normal. She had forgotten the way emptiness felt when it was fresh. Like it didn’t come out clean, it tore at skin and flesh, leaving a jagged edge where it used to be. Or, rather, where her heart used to be. Because all that was there now was emptiness.

No, she decided, she hadn’t made any progress. She’d been around humans for a while and it was weird as fuck. She’d scared the people she thought were family and they were afraid of her. And Party Poison was in labor. She was bringing life into the world and Fun was sitting in the dirt wishing she was there to make sure she was okay, or wishing she was decaying into the earth, whichever was more helpful.

She couldn’t see the moon, but the stars were still there. They could barely be seen through the trees but they were easier to find than the moon. She watched them for a while until she felt tears building, prickling in her nose first before blurring her vision. All she wanted was a purpose, all she wanted was somewhere that needed her, because when she was all alone she had no fucking clue who she was. Sure, she liked guitar, but what was a guitar player without an audience? Sure, she liked horror movies, but you can’t just watch horror movies for the rest of your life. The things you like aren’t who you are, not necessarily. And Fun had no idea who she was.

It felt like an age before Fun heard the rustling of humans again. It was a calm time, crying, feeling empty, then suddenly feeling her heart ache, then feeling empty again. When the brush stirred around her, she almost forgot what was going on. Then Dr. Death Defying’s face was illuminated by the moonlight and Jet Star’s close behind her.

“Come on,” Dr. Death said, waving her over.

Fun stayed completely still. “What did Party say?”

“She said she would never forgive me if something happened to you,” Dr. Death said. “She said you aren’t dangerous.”

Fun stared at her. “I’m- you’re taking me back to New Georgia?”

“Yes,” Star said, walking around Dr. Death and kneeling down next to Fun. Dr. D seemed tense when she did, but Star was determined to treat Fun as she had always been treated. Like family. “You belong back there. Party’s having her baby and she wants you there with her.”

“She does?” Fun was staring at Star now, unable to comprehend what she’d just said. Party wanted her there? Why? “Why?”

“Because you’re family,” Star said, helping her stand up. It felt weird to. “She wants her family to be there, and that includes you.”

Fun nodded slightly, then glanced at Dr. D’s face. She was tense, her jaw was clenched, like she was expecting Fun to snap at any moment and rip Star’s face apart. Her hand rested on her pistol on her hip.

“Come on, let’s get you back where it’s warm,” Star said, pulling Fun with her, an arm around her shoulders.

Dr. Death followed behind them, and Fun could feel her eyes on the back of her head. Things were tense now, things were different. This was the beginning of the end, Fun had experienced this before. Well, not this specifically, but the way things changed after people knew. It always fell apart.

* * *

Caregiver was relieved to see they’d all come back safely this time, hugging Fun tightly. Fun caught Dr. Death’s nervous glance as they did so. She also caught Star slapping Dr. D’s arm for it.

At the clinic, the whole building could hear that someone was in labor. Party’s screams were louder than if she were being murdered. When they entered the delivery room, a nurse was only just now administering the epidural. It wasn’t like they were a real hospital anyway, they couldn’t be expected to have delivered many babies, despite her doctor saying he’d delivered some in the past.

When Fun came into view, Party’s anguished, tearstained face turned to her and she grimaced. Fun realized it was probably supposed to be a smile.

“J-just in time for the- fuck- grand finale!” Party croaked, her voice already shot. “Finally g-getting my meds, definitely after the first round of pushing, by the way!”

Fun said nothing as she walked over and took Party’s hand from Kid, who shuddered a sigh of relief. Her hand was looking seriously bruised. Fun let Party grip her hand like a vice.

“A-are you okay?” Party asked, seeming to finally be getting some pain relief.

“You’re fucking giving birth right now, you’re asking me if I’m okay?” Fun laughed.

“Yeah, b-because these- chucklefucks left you alone out there,” Party jutted her chin out toward Dr. Death and Star. 

“I’m fine,” Fun said, brushing off the question. “I think there’s something more pressing right now, anyway.”

“Ha, pressing-” Party was cut off by a sharp gasp.

“Okay, time to push,” the doctor said.

Everyone’s ears would be ringing for the next day.

* * *

A healthy baby boy. A little squishy-looking, pink-skinned, wailing baby boy. Once he was cleaned, bundled up, and placed onto Party’s chest to get some mom time, they were both out cold. Party’s hand was still in Fun’s, now limp like the rest of her exhausted body. The others stayed for a while too, sharing some tears and leaning over to get a better look at the little guy. At some point they started leaving one by one, but Fun didn’t miss how nobody left her alone with Party and the baby. Kid was a perpetual presence, sometimes Show Pony would just stand by the door. Star came back with food that Fun ate slowly and mindlessly. Eventually Kid fell asleep in her chair next to Star, who also eventually fell asleep. Dr. Death and Show Pony must’ve gone back to the house.

Alone in the room of sleeping women, Fun took some time to study each of their faces while they slept. Not for any other reason but to understand them better. Kid had worry lines all over her face, much like Star and Party, but they were slightly deeper-set. She had freckles too, Fun realized upon closer inspection. Star didn’t have freckles, but her skin was starting to tan from the sun into a gorgeous bronze color. Party was an outlier in that she looked extremely pale. She had been tanned before, like Kid was, Fun noticed, but because she’d been inside for so long waiting to have this baby she was very pale now. That, plus the stress of actually having the baby left her looking ill. 

Fun squeezed her hand slightly. She hadn’t expected anything to happen, so she jumped slightly when Party opened her eyes lazily. She looked over at her with her reddened eyes and chapped lips and smiled. 

“Did you see him?” she asked softly, her voice crackling. She was clearly still on whatever painkillers they’d given her. 

“I did,” Fun said quietly, nodding. “He’s adorable.”

“He looks like me,” Party said with a wider smile. She rolled her head back over to go back to looking at her son. “Doesn’t look anything like Eli.”

Fun watched her fall back asleep easily. Eli. That must be the fucker’s name. Fun filed it away for later, just in case she ran into any Eli’s in the future. Eli.

* * *

The next day, Party spent all morning agonizing over what to name her new baby. The group tried a bunch of suggestions but none of them stuck. She got excited when she breastfed him for the first time, making everyone look. Star gagged and turned away the moment the baby spit up. Kid looked very fast and told her that she was not about to stare at her sister’s boobs. Dr. Death reminisced about when she’d had kids and everyone shared a moment where they almost asked her about it. Fun just watched the baby get progressively calmer as he ate, smiling at his little noises.

“Blade Runner,” Kid said suddenly, sitting up in her chair. She looked right at Party and they shared a moment only they could understand. Party’s eyes lit up.

“Oh! I love that!” she said, smiling down at her son in her arms. “Are you sure it’s not too much? Maybe Deckard?”

“No, terrible,” Kid said, shaking her head. “Plus, Blade Runner fits with the rest of us much better anyway.”

“You’re naming your kid after a movie from the 80’s?” Dr. Death said, raising an eyebrow.

“Did you expect her to do anything else?” Show Pony said, rolling their eyes. “Just be happy she didn’t pick Alien or Terminator.”

“Fair,” Dr. Death sighed.

“Little Blade,” Party cooed, snuggling him close. He squirmed and grabbed her nose. “Ow, that’s mommy’s nose, please let go of mommy’s nose, Blade.”

Fun laughed and reached out to take his small hand. When she did, Dr. Death visibly tensed up. Blade took her finger, wrapping his tiny stubby fingers around it and squeezing.

“You can hold my finger, just don’t pull on mommy’s nose,” Fun said, ignoring how clearly uncomfortable Dr. Death and Show Pony were with her so close to the baby.

“Okay, cut that shit out right now,” Party said angrily, glaring at Dr. D and Show Pony.

They all froze, glancing between each other.

“Sh-she could be dangerous,” Show Pony offered weakly.

“We still don’t know-” Dr. Death started.

“Have you forgotten that she was the one who got us out of the Garden?” Party asked, raising an eyebrow. “She was the one who brought all those supplies, she was the one who kept my sister and Lindsey safe while we made our way into the city, and she was the one keeping me company so I wouldn’t go insane while you all were risking your lives.”

Dr. D and Show Pony were very quiet.

“I wanted us all to share this little idiot coming into the world, and that means all of us. Fun Ghoul is one of us, end of fucking discussion.” Party huffed and Blade squirmed in her arms. “Sorry, I won’t blow on your face.”

Fun didn’t really know what to say, so she didn’t say anything. She just let Blade hold her finger and watched Party yawn. It was barely midday, but she could probably already use a nap, just like her baby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually cut this chapter in half, this is the first half of a really long chapter that I didn't think worked well as one whole chapter. The second half of this is still being written but it's coming along! No idea when I'll post again, sorry! But thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! Let me know what you think so far! Comments give me life!! <3


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